Howling in the desert
by Tarja the wind witch
Summary: HB and his squad are called to Texas, to investigate on a strange dog-like creature leading a pack of coyotes. Rated for some cursing and violence and for the main character's temper. Chapter 15 up! Challenge for readers. Cameo for winners
1. Prologue: hunting with the pack

**DISCLAIMER: i do not own any HB original character. I own just the plot and the OCs, though I am still doubtful about Ruddy, he has a kind of life on his own.**

**  
This is the new version of a story that obsesses me from my earliest youth. It is also an experiment in estrangement, as the main character has a very strange point of view on the world.  
Please review, ladies and gentlemen: I badly need some criticism to improve, even if it is negative. Just review and let me know what you think.**

**A warning for my readers: there is some graphic violence against an innocent cow in this chapter (animals hunting). If you are particularly sensitive towards animal welfare, feel free not to read it.  
Also there is no HB or BPRD characters in this chapter, they will make their appearance in the next. This chapter is just meant to introduce the main character.  
**

**Finally, I have a challenge for my readers:****  
In the next chapters I will introduce quite a lot of OCs, all BPRD staff: agents, secretaries, medical personnel, cooks and so on.  
Whoever guesses what/who really is the main character of the story will have the possibility of appearing as a BPRD OC of his choice. Just review and guess, there are a lot of clues distributed along the chapters.  
All the readers who guess correctly will make an appearance, not just the first.  
**

**Enjoy!**

20/10/2008: minor edits, mostly formatting.

* * *

The cow was barely twenty meters away, calmly nibbling at a particularly tasty patch of grass.  
It was a large, fat cow, one that could sate easily the hunger of the whole pack.  
It had not scented them and likely would not.  
If all went well, the cow wouldn't sense anything until it was too late.

He had chosen the spot well. He had a great experience in hunting after all.  
This land felt almost like home, a vast plain baked by an unmerciful sun, and yet it was different.  
At night, the stars would look slightly different, not in the same position as he had seen them last, and the sandy ground was of the wrong color.  
At home, in his territory, his reddish fur would make him blend perfectly with his surroundings.  
Here the sandy ground was too yellow or brownish and he stood out a lot in contrast.  
He had adapted quickly to the differences, however, even if it meant going out mostly at night.  
He was a creature of the night, that's sure, but he liked to think at himself as a flawless predator and having to hide wounded his pride a lot.

It was sunset now an the whole pack was hiding behind a mound within striking range of a large, tasty cow.  
Seven adult coyotes and three grown-up pups, a total of ten members, himself being the eleventh and oddest of the group. He liked being the eleventh: eleven was the number of chaos, his favorite number.

Longtail, the former alpha of the pack, wagged his famed tail in anticipation.  
The strategy was clear: the pack would rush the prey, trying to force it further apart from the herd, Longtail, Squarenose, Brownie and Lightpaw, the fastest pup, would bite at its legs, trying to avoid being kicked,directing its flight, and finally himself and two of the females, Howl-in-the-Wind and Dare-the-Waters would fell it.

The coyotes had odd names, but they suited them well, underlining some aspects of their appearance or personality.  
He had always been a solitary, but in time he had grown fond of his companions, though at first he had not had any intentions of joining them.

He was hunting on his own and he carelessly trespassed the boundaries of their territory.  
Longtail, their alpha, sensing the presence of a foreign male in his area, felt it was his duty to challenge him for dominance.  
The brave coyote followed his tracks with the rest of the pack, thinking he was following one of his kind.  
To his credit, he didn't desist even when he knew for sure that the stranger was not a coyote.  
Longtail must have thought that, being somewhat canine, he still had to submit to his authority.  
It had not been much of a fight. He was slightly bigger than Longtail and much more powerful.  
The wise coyote submitted readily.  
He was going to turn his back and continue his journey on his own, but the members of the pack insisted that he was alpha now, and had the responsibility of guiding them.  
He grudgingly accepted, it was not going to be forever.  
Just for some months.  
He could endure that much.  
He had to acknowledge that, far from enduring, he was enjoying himself. It felt good being alpha-something again after all that time.  
The coyotes accepted him readily, treating him like one of them.  
He often wondered if they thought him as odd as everybody else always had.  
They had even given him a name in their peculiar style.  
They called him Ruddy.  
He would never admit it loud, but he liked it.

The cow, always concentrated on her meal, turned its back to the waiting predators.  
It was the signal: the pack sprinted from the hideout, barking and growling, and circled the prey.  
It tried to run away towards the safety of the herd, but the runners managed to steer its flight in a more convenient direction. Lightpaw was doing a hell of a good job, he noticed, frightening the cow by snapping his teeth close to its hide.  
It ran like hell.  
It was exhilarating to chase it across the plain in the sunset, excitement making the blood run faster into one's veins.  
Longtail and Brownie darted in front of the cow, forcing her to change direction, and Squarenose followed her, threatening to bite away its tail.  
Ruddy looked at the two females running with him and howled a signal.  
They closed up to the cow and prepared to attack. Lightpaw crossed the prey's path again, slowing it and there they stroke, jumping on its back and biting and clawing as hard as possible.  
The cow mooed desperately and started shaking violently, trying to throw them down, but they held fast.

A rush of excitement almost overcame him when the cow's sweet blood gushed in his mouth, rich and tasty.  
He bit harder and harder on the prey's neck, until his fangs met bone.  
He started worrying at the wound, widening and deepening it.  
His fangs found the space between two vertebrae and he bit again.  
The cow halted abruptly and fell down dead, making him and the females fall from its back.

They had made it again.  
He felt so happy and satisfied he wanted to laugh, but he doubted the others would understand, so he did the second best thing.  
He threw his head back and howled, and the whole pack responded, their voices merging in one.  
After a while enthusiasm subsided, as hunger kicked in.  
Being alpha, he had the right to eat first, and he did so, relishing the strong taste of the adrenaline-ridden blood of the prey.  
Longtail, being beta, and the two females who helped him fell the prey ate next, then the runners, and finally the others who had risked less in the hunt.

He quietly licked himself clean from the blood, watching the pack eat.  
Howl-in-the-Wind lay next to him, doing graciously the same.  
The young female looked at him with amber eyes. She communicated to him all her satisfaction for the hunt and her admiration for his plans, managing to subtly convey also a great interest in mating the next appropriate season.  
Ruddy widened his scarlet eyes and fidgeted, at a loss about how to react to such a proposal.  
Howl-in-the-Wind was strong, fast and ambitious and deserved to be the alpha female of the pack, but he was going to leave soon.  
She'd better try with Longtail.  
And then there was the problem of pups.  
She wasn't going to be happy with the fact that he couldn't give her any.  
Sharpears, a female pup with a very keen sense of hearing, relieved him from the uncomfortable situation by barking an alert. Something was approaching.  
The coyotes jumped to their feet, ready to react.

Ruddy heard a rumble not exactly like thunder then something whistled past him and dug a hole in the ground.  
Some kind of projectile, he thought.  
He barked to the pack, ordering a retreat  
Then there was a thundering of horse hooves, a rider approaching fast.  
The newcomer was a white-skinned man, mounted on a brown, scared, steed.  
The man was wearing the weirdest clothes he had ever seen and a ridiculous hat, not unlike that of Hermes, and was carrying a weird staff, made partly of wood and partly of metal.  
He didn't think that was a weapon.  
Where was the blade? Or could it be some kind of mace or club?

The man saw the remnants of the cow and cursed loudly. "Damn beasts!" he yelled and raised the strange staff level with his eyes.  
Longtail howled something about the thunder staff and fled, followed by the others.  
Ruddy, decided to remain behind and cover the backs of his companions.  
He ran in front of the horse and growled menacingly, the hairs on his back rising in a ridge.  
The horse whinniyed, terrified, and reared.  
"What the hell is this?" the man yelled, trying to keep control of his mount and raising the staff again.  
He directed the end of the strange object towards him and pulled a kind of lever.

_It is a weapon._

The intuition flashed through his mind just in time. He jumped away, but still felt a sharp burning pain in his hind right leg.  
He howled in pain and unleashed his power, without a second thought.  
A spark of bright white light ran through the air towards the rider.  
He fell and his mount wisely fled the scene, running as fast as he could.

Limping and bleeding, Ruddy approached the fallen man.  
He sniffed cautiously around, catching some unknown scents and looking for vital signs.  
Fortunately the bastard was still alive, and probably will wake in a short time.  
He had not given him such a big shock, just enough to put him out of combat for a while, even if it was in his right to kill him, after all.  
Despite the hurt, he raised his injured leg and pissed on the rider's hat.  
Feeling somehow relieved by this nasty act, Ruddy limped towards his pack. His nose told him that they were near and frightened.

* * *

**Any ideas already about who Ruddy really is?  
it is quite difficult now, I know, but do not despair, it will become more clear in the next chapters.**

**Have you enjoyed it? Please, send any feedback, so I can improve.  
**


	2. A polite discussion

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any BPRD original character. I own just the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either, he has a kind of life on his own.**

**This chapter has no Ruddy in it but the guys from BPRD make their appearance. No warnings also, just some irony.**

**As for the challenge, there are some clues here. Not much really, just a kind of rough description of Ruddy's aspect, but it can help.**

**Enjoy!  
**

20/10/2008: minor edits, mostly formatting.

* * *

Sheriff Jones was baffled by Jeremy Sherman's account of how he lost a cow, fell from his horse and got knocked by a red dog with ridiculous ears.

"He pissed on my hat!" yelled the cowboy, face flushed with anger.  
"The bastard did it on purpose!" He waved along his soiled hat, which in fact smelled strongly of coyote piss.  
"Are you certain of what happened?" the sheriff asked patiently.  
Jeremy gave him a suspicious look.  
"Were you drunk last night, Jeremy?" Though a good lad, Jeremy was quite fond of whiskey.  
The sheriff had already had to frame him for driving under influence twice.  
The cowboy bristled visibly. "I was perfectly sober! And I know what I saw. The damned beast charged my horse and did something weird to me and knocked me out. It was not a coyote, I swear." he repeated for the umpteenth time that morning.  
"If you will not help me, I'll organize a search on my own and discharge a whole magazine of bullets between his blasted ears." the cowboy said with finality.  
"You won't do anything at all, lad. Think about it. It may be a rabid animal or something like that. - the sheriff cut short his boastings and Jeremy paled – Let me call that Animal Contention number the guys from Washington left us."  
The sheriff typed quickly a report, including even Jeremy's wildest ramblings about the beast and faxed it to a Washington D.C. number.  
"And now?" Jeremy whimpered, frustrated, his vengeance ruined.  
"And now we wait." the sheriff replied, seating himself again and putting his boots on the desk.

The fax started beeping and buzzing on Manning's desk.  
It was the number the BPRD had given to the police offices in the guise of a special Animal Contention squad.  
So far they had had a few calls, mostly for real animals on the loose: some bears, a tiger that had run away from a circus, aggressive stray dogs and an alligator, but no monsters.  
Manning was actually regretting the whole idea of the Monster Hotline, as Red had dubbed it.  
He picked up the sheet and read it quickly.  
After reaching the end of the document, he read it again, not believing himself.  
The guys from Texas must be joking.  
He got up from his desk and left his office,heading for the library, to vent his frustration at the operative staff.

They were all in there, chatting and laughing so loud it could be noticed from behind the closed door.  
He opened it and the laughter readily ceased.  
"Hey, Manning, what's up?" Red asked, cheerfully.  
"You look greatly distressed." said professor Krauss, with his thick German accent.  
"Some sheriff from Texas sent this to us." Manning replied, thrusting the paper into Hellboy's hands.  
Hellboy read it and started laughing out loud. "It is a joke, is it?"  
He handed the sheet to Liz, who was looking at him with interest.  
After reading it, she had a reaction akin to that of his boyfriend, but much quieter.  
She giggled, hiding behind a hand, and passed it on to professor Krauss.  
The ectoplasmic man started reading it out loud.

_Yesterday night, around nine, Mr. Jeremy Sherman noticed the loss of one of his Angus cows.  
Subsequently he mounted on his horse and tried to locate it.  
He noticed some tracks and followed them for some time.  
He thinks that the place where he found its remains was roughly ten miles apart from his campsite.  
Noticing a rather large pack of coyotes he shot once with his rifle and rode right onto them.  
Most fled but a beast remained and tried to attack his horse.  
He described it as slightly larger than a coyote and having a reddish fur, long ears and a forked tail.  
He is sure it is not any animal commonly seen in the region.  
__He reports having shot it, then seeing a flash of white light and blacking out.  
He claims also that the creature has peed on his hat."_

Professor Krauss made a strange muffled sound, which was probably a laughter.  
Only Abe didn't seem amused.  
He floated listlessly in his tank, looking pensive and interested.  
"Has anyone noticed that Texas is one of the last places where chupacabras have been sighted?" he said.  
"Chupa-what?" Hellboy asked, baffled.  
"Chupacabras. – repeated Abe – A still unknown species of mammal which preys preferentially on cattle."  
"Oh, well... - Red looked interested – Are they dangerous?"  
"Red! Why do you still seem excited only by the perspective of danger? You have two kids to care after, now!" Liz scolded him.  
Hellboy looked sheepishly at his girlfriend.  
She sighed, fatherhood had not changed him: he still was the same irresponsible daredevil.  
"All reports agree that chupacabras are not aggressive towards humans. They are shy, nocturne creatures." Abe continued.  
Hellboy looked rather downcast.  
"This is strange. - Krauss commented – The report here states that the creature directly attacked the cowboy."  
Abe dismissed the objection with a shrug. "It was attacked first."  
Krauss insisted "Have any witness ever reported that chupacabras moved around in packs with coyotes? I doubt it very much."  
"No, they had never. In fact, chupacabras are believed to be solitary creatures, but there is no abundance of data, really."  
The German professor still was skeptical. "And I do not recall they ever being described as red. I do not think this sighting relates to chupacabras."  
Abe still went on, defending his thesis. "Most specimens were examined some time after death. Skin colour may change with postmortem events. It might be a chupacabras or something else completely different and unknown. But as you surely know, most times the correct guess is the most simple."  
"Ockham's razor. Yes, yes, I know." Krauss acknowledged.

The discussion went on for some time.  
It was pretty much an academic discussion, almost pointless and with both contenders holding fast to their positions and many quotations from renown authors.  
Abe stated that it was not logical to postulate another unknown creature in the same area where chupacabras were repeatedly sighted, and Krauss replied that the differences between the other sightings and the current one were too many to be dismissed as casual.  
They were polite, very polite indeed, but it was a kind of politeness that is often see in academical meetings where the most prominent professors think each other quite an oaf.  
It was a very awkward situation for the bystanders, who didn't understand why the two of them were arguing after all, and didn't catch half the references they made.

"I'm starting to feel stupid..." Manning said.  
Hellboy and Liz did not reply, but their silence and the look they gave him spoke volumes.  
"It is quite unnerving, indeed." Liz added.  
Hellboy nodded.  
He stepped between the two contenders and interrupted them.  
"Hey, guys, there is no need to argue, right? - he said, confidently – There is a dog-thing on the loose in Texas. it doesn't matter what it is and what it isn't. I say, let's get there and catch it. Am I right, boss?"  
Manning nodded wearily.  
Surprisingly, both Abe and professor Krauss agreed enthusiastically.  
Liz however sighed and shook her head.  
"And what are we going to do with the kids, Red? Surely we can't bring them on a mission."  
Hellboy mused on the topic for a while.  
"We can leave them to miss Honeydew, the nurse. She had a good time with them when we visited your relatives two months ago." he sounded pleading.  
Liz shook her head again.  
Hellboy looked like a kid with a new toy.  
It was some time since the last they had gone on a mission and he clearly missed some action.  
"Ok, ok. - she conceded, smiling softly – We will leave the kids with miss Honeydew."  
"Hooray! - Hellboy exclaimed – Texas, we're coming!"

* * *

**Any ideas now on Ruddy's identity?  
Please review and make some guess. It does not matter if it is wrong.  
Next chapter will contain more clues and definitely more of Ruddy and the gang.**


	3. Playing decoy

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either. He has a kind of life on his own.**

**Another Ruddy-centric chapter, kind of drabble-ish in some parts.  
A warning for my readers: there is another graphic scene of animals hunting in this chapter (some innocent goats and a lettuce). If you resent graphic violence on animals please feel free not to read this chapter.  
There is no HB or BPRD here, but do not worry, they'll be back in next chapter.**

**As for the challenge: Hodoo managed to solve it partially, by guessing that Ruddy is a Saalawa.  
That's almost exactly _what_ he is, but not _who_ he is.  
Keep responding ladies and gentlemen: this second challenge is harder but I count on you.**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

His wounded leg hurt and throbbed at every step he took, yet he could not stop.  
He had to lead the hunters away from the pack.  
It was just two days since he left them, and he already missed them more than he had anticipated.

After dealing with the rider, he limped through the night towards his frightened companions. They were not far away, hiding behind a hill.  
His return, almost unscathed, had elicited a great deal of enthusiasm, expressed by tail-wagging and barking.  
Ruddy had been forced to interrupt the congratulations and make them march.  
He knew that the rider would not stay unconscious for long.  
He could have killed the human without much more effort. All it would have taken was letting his control go, and the shock would have been enough to fry the idiot on the spot.  
On a short term it could have been a solution, because he wouldn't have to care about being specifically followed now, but on a long term it was impratical.

Kill one of them and all his kind will hunt you down.

They marched for many miles that night, under the light of the moon, stopping only when dawn broke.  
They hid in a small cave in the side of a hill, exhausted, and they slept together in a big puppy pile.  
It was comforting.

At least he didn't have to worry much about his wound.  
It hurt and forced him to limp, but at least his healing abilities would prevent infection.  
He had endured worse wounds and worse pain in his existence.  
It was one of the downsides of being a warrior.

That morning he woke up curled against Howl-in-the-Wind.  
She was very kind to him, her admiration for him clearly magnified by the feat of previous night.  
Few were the ones who survived the "thunder staff".  
They marched on for two more days, sleeping during the day and traveling at night, until on the third morning he had another intuition.

_They are coming after me._

He cursed inwardly. His intuitions had always been of this kind: 'someone is after you with bad intentions' or 'a danger is coming'.  
He never had the revelations his relatives mentioned, like knowing exactly how to relieve humanity from misery or if his children would be girls or boys.  
Maybe the latter had something to do with the fact that he could never ever have children.  
Desert may bear flowers, once in a eon, but he could never sire a descendant.  
Life was not fair, sometimes.

He left the pack the very same day, carefully instructing Longtail to keep marching for a few more days, just to stay away from danger.  
Longtail was a good alpha, as far as he could judge,responsible and strong.  
The pack would survive even in another territory.

Leaving Howl-in-the-Wind, however, was not so easy, as she insisted in coming with him to found a new pack in a faraway place.  
She argued that he was wounded and could not travel alone, and nothing could persuade her that he would be just fine alone.  
He didn't want to put her or the others in danger, as the intuition said that the humans were hunting just for him.  
Howl-in-the-Wind put up a kind of a fight against him, just to demonstrate that he was weakened and in need of support.  
It was a brave effort, but it did no good.  
As much as he was not fond of beating any female, he forced her mercilessly into submission.  
At least she surrendered and let him go alone, but not before she bid him tenderly farewell by rubbing her nose against his.

Ruddy turned away and didn't look back.  
He marched in the opposite direction from the pack, feeling very alone.  
Day or night he would travel at the fastest pace his bad leg allowed, in silence, hunting occasional rodents or lizards on the way.  
He missed the tumble and play of the pups and the quieter company of the adults.  
He missed them, curse the heavens!

Ruddy knew for certain that just running away was not enough to keep other random canids from harm's way.  
He had to make sure he was clearly sighted again and followed specifically before disappearing.  
Also, he had to eat something more substantial than desert rats.  
Marching much and not sleeping enough had wearied him down, he was quite sure that his ribs were starting to show.  
His plans meant that he had to approach a farm or another human settlement.

Later that night, from his vantage point on a nearby hill, Ruddy saw a rather large wooden house with a porch and gracious Ionic columns.  
It was quite strange, he thought.  
This was the last place where one could reasonably think of finding a Greek or Roman settlement.  
The place was too wild, the language and the clothes people used were wrong, at least judging from what he had experienced so far.  
Maybe it was some Romanized barbarian settlement, he mused.  
Yes, that sounded quite more reasonable, but there was only one way to ascertain it, that is investigating more closely.  
Another reason to approach the house.

The windows were lit and the people in the house must be very wealthy, judging from the amount of candles they used for illumination.  
Strangely, though, he didn't smell smoke.  
Puzzled, he frowned and stopped, sniffing suspiciously the air.  
Next to the main building there were some smaller constructions, from which came the strong smell of poultry and goats, a hen-house and a stable, he deduced.  
Right in front of the buildings there was a small cultivated plot of land.

His mouth watered when he noticed a row of lettuce plants between the other vegetables.  
Ruddy re-considered his plans in view of this last discovery, and made a quick detour towards the vegetables.  
He sniffed suspiciously a big lettuce plant, then, satisfied by the inspection, he took an enthusiastic morsel of the sweet vegetable.  
It had been a long time since his last salad, and he missed it.  
He munched at it for a while, wagging his forked tail in enjoyment, before heading towards the constructions.

There he stopped, thinking: hens or goats?  
An irruption in the hen-house would grant him a quick and easy meal, which was not bad since he was still hungry, but it was not a noteworthy feat for a terrible beast.  
Feeling he needed something showier, he headed for the stable.  
The door was locked but there was a window at a suitable height.

He crouched, gathering strenght for the leap, and jumped through the opening, his wounded leg not giving him so much trouble.  
Ruddy landed lightly in the midst of a very scared bunch of goats, which immediately started to bleat loudly.  
That was right: he needed all the confusion he could muster.  
Carefully selecting his prey, he pounced the very old male with oddly retorted horns and tore away its throat.  
He quickly licked as much blood as he could, before howling like mad and going for the cluster of females huddling in the corner.  
He barked and snarled, eliciting more terrified bleats from the poor goats, and finally jumped.  
The cows tried to stomp and kick him, but they had little space and he still was too quick and vicious.

He managed to kill them all and drink their blood before the door opened with a loud bang and a big, angry-looking human with blond hair entered the stable, carrying one of those "thunder-staffs".  
Behind him was a woman in a long gown, equally blond but much less angry and much more scared.

He put up a very good show for the couple: he growled fiercely, his fur so bloody that it looked almost scarlet and the hair on his back raised in a very intimidating ridge.  
The man raised his weapon level with his eyes and pointed at him, but he had learned the lesson and lost no time in shocking him a little.  
The man's eyes rolled in their sockets and he fell down heavily.  
The woman spared him the effort of producing another spark by fainting on her own.

Very good, he thought: the two would make very good witnesses, spurred by the loss of all their goats.  
He inspected them more closely: they didn't look Romans or Greeks, more like Germans or Gauls, which confirmed his opinion.  
The settlement must be some kind of colony.

The smell of blood was very appealing and he thought it was a waste letting all that delicious meat rot uneaten.  
Ruddy ate quickly as much as he could before leaving the farm, satisfied with his handwork.

Five goats killed and mutilated and two knocked out humans (plus a devoured lettuce plant no one would ever consider): that was a feat worth of notice and of his reputation.  
That was what would bring the hunters in hot pursuit on his tracks.

The pack was safe now.

Somehow this made him sleep better that morning.

**Any ideas on _who _Ruddy is?  
Come on, I think it is pretty clear.  
The lettuce is a big clue.**

**  
Please review and guess!  
**


	4. Animal Contention Service

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD characters. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either. He has a kind of life on his own.**

**Thanks to Keajo for the review. Maybe the lettuce clue was not so big after all.  
Keep on trying.  
And thanks to Hodoo.  
**

**This chapter is a bit short, I know but I had to separate it from a longer one or it would have been too difficult to read. No warnings for this chapter.  
There is some BPRD again and a new OC: Dr Daisy Marsh. **

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**Sheriff Jones had never really thought the guys from Washington would send a squad for the mad coyote who pissed on Jeremy's hat.  
Yet they did, and they lost no time.  
A truck with "Animal Contention Service" signs plastered to its sides drove into the parking lot two days after the fateful fax.

Shortly after, his office was invaded by four federal dog-catchers, two women and two men.  
It was the women who did the talking. The men just fell back and watched, pretty much like bodyguards. The men and the younger woman were armed with automatic guns.

The two women introduced themselves as Dr. Daisy Marsh, zoologist from Miskatonic University, a well dressed woman in her late thirties, and Elizabeth Sherman, federal agent, younger, a pale brunette with chanel haircut.  
Both were quite good looking but didn't look like the kind of people who chase after raving mad animals for a living.

After the proper introductions were performed, the feds came quick to the point.  
"You were the one that sent us the report about the strange animal sighting two days ago, right?" asked Dr. Marsh dryly, taking notes on a slim notebook.  
"Yes ma'am, it was me." he replied, calmly. It was not two female feds who would make him lose his temper. Let them be as bossy as they could, in a few days they would be gone, less if the blasted dog let himself be caught.

"Please, sheriff, tell us what happened." continued agent Sherman.  
The sheriff lifted his cowboy hat and scratched his head. "Well, agent, there is not much to say, it is all in the report."  
"Pray, tell us anyway. - she insisted – What was the witness behavior? Any detail can help us, sir."  
Jones sighed and obeyed. "Well, it was barely eight o'clock in the morning and Jeremy Sherman barrels in my office, ranting about a coyote who killed his cow and waving about his hat, all pissed over.  
It stank like hell, let me tell you..."  
The two women exchanged a quick look.  
"And then I make him calm down – went on the sheriff – and make him tell me the whole story, which in fact is what I faxed you the other day."

"Did you suspect that the witness was drunk or otherwise intoxicated?" asked the zoologist.  
"At first yes, – he conceded reluctantly – but then I realized that he was just shocked and upset."  
Dr Marsh noted something down on her notebook. "No signs of mental instability? No hallucinations or fixed thoughts?"  
Sheriff Jones gave her a puzzled look. "No, ma'am. Why are you asking this, anyway."  
"Standard procedure, sheriff. We have to exclude some eventualities when judging a case. There is nothing to be worried about." the zoologist explained, trying to reassure him.  
He said nothing but wondered about the amount of weird things these agents had to witness on their workplace. He wondered how many UFO calls they got a year.

"You confirm what you wrote, then?" continued agent Sherman.  
"Yes, ma'am. Every single word." the sheriff answered without hesitation.  
"And how was the witness' reaction to his,encounter?" the agent inquired.  
"Oh, well, Jeremy was very mad, this for sure. - the sheriff commented – He had just lost a very valuable piece of cattle. You know, his ranch breeds Angus, which are very prized and the coyotes managed to take one of his finest.  
And then there was his hat... - the sheriff stifled a laugh - All pissed over..."  
This time he laughed for real.  
The agents gave him wide eyes.  
"Excuse me, agents, but it is so funny! - he explained – The poor lad thought that the blasted dog did it on purpose because he had shot him. He was so enraged that he wowed to kill the beast with his own hands."  
"I'd be upset too if a dog-thing pissed on my hat." one of the two male agents added sympathetically.

"Is that all, sheriff?" Doctor Marsh asked.  
"Yes, that is pretty much all, ma'am." he replied.  
She nodded. "It is fundamental that we talk directly with the witness. Could you tell us where we can find him?"  
The sheriff nodded. "Sure, ma'am. He is the son of Jordan Sherman of Sherman Ranch, down the highway. Just follow the road and then turn at the sign. It's not far. - he looked happy at the thought of getting already rid of them – Jeremy lives and works there. If he's not at the ranch, he'd be with the cattle or downtown with friends. But his father would be there and he'd tell you."

Satisfied with his answers the guys from Washington bid him farewell and drove away in their weird truck.  
They looked pretty hard and professional.

The nasty dog was surely in for some trouble, he thought.

* * *

**No new clues in this chapter, but the challenge continues.  
Please review to make your guess. Or just review because you like/dislike the story or want to give some advice.  
Criticism make stories better.**


	5. Investigations

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD characters. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.  
I also do not own any original HP Lovecraft characters or setting, I just borrow them.**

**No warnings for this chapter, just some irony. It is another BPRD-centric chapter, in which Daisy Marsh is more properly introduced.**

**The challenge is still open, anyway.  
**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**The Shermans' ranch was farther away than they anticipated.  
"Follow the road and turn at the sign, he said." mumbled Liz, annoyed.  
So far they had already driven for twenty miles of arid countryside without trace of any sign reading Sherman's ranch.  
"I think they have a different perception of distance here, miss Sherman." Krauss commented. "It may be due to their habit of traveling great spaces."  
Dr. Daisy Marsh nodded.  
The two academics seemed to get along well, so far.

The truck was big and as comfortable as an operative vehicle could be, but the BPRD agents were quite crammed in the rear compartment.  
The road went along, always the same, flanked on both sides by empty wilderness.  
"It would be easy to disappear in such a place for a weird coyote. Or for anything else." Hellboy commented, quite bored.  
The had took a plane from Washington to Houston, then had continued with the truck to the small town whence the fax had been sent.  
His bottom was surely much flattened by now, after so many hours of sitting upon it.  
"Yes, it would, but not if it was seriously wounded. - Abe said – That Jeremy Sherman claims he shot the creature, maybe it was enough to force it to find a shelter in the nearby area."  
"It may be a possibility. - confirmed Dr. Marsh – I hope it is not dead yet, anyway. Finding it alive would be an extraordinary achievement in the study of cryptozoology."  
She looked enthusiastic, eyes shining and smiling.

She was a recent addiction to the team, hired when, after the Bethmoora mission and the threat to leave the BPRD, the agents managed to have some changes made in the organization.  
Opening the Monster Hotline, for example, was Abe's idea.  
He hoped to find and rescue some stray magic creatures as well as defending the human population from weird things from the abysses.

Daisy Marsh was a cryptozoologist, PhD at Miskatonic University in Massachussets, a place where the weirdest things were studied.  
She was regarded as quite an authority in her field and though her main topic of research were some invertebrate creatures hidden in the forests of New England, she had a wide culture about cryptids.  
She quickly adapted to working with them.  
Hellboy was relieved by finding a human who was not weirded out by them.  
But maybe it was because she was weird herself.  
He had already heard her speak with enthusiasm about the disgusting reproductive behavior of some oddity of the Thailandese rainforest, or something equally horrible.

The call for this job had reached her while she was attending at a symposium about American Cryptids at Miskatonic.  
She accepted promptly and joined them in Houston, glad of having an opportunity to do some field research.  
Her department had recently suffered some shortage of funds, which were redirected to the necromancy department for some big experimental project.  
Hellboy thought that the guys at Miskatonic'd better not poke at what was sleeping, whatever it was.  
They were bound to make some mess of it, and the BPRD would have to clean it.

"Well, – he said, not relieved by this thoughts – if it is not incapacitated or dead , we will probably have to search the whole desert for it."  
"Maybe not, Red. – Abe replied – If it has left any trace, I may be able to find him through my powers."  
Hellboy just grumbled.  
Dr. Marsh instead seemed very interested. "You are a touch-sensitive, I suppose." she said, smiling.  
"Yes, I am. It is a nuisance sometimes, but it is useful during an investigation." Abe replied, quite proudly.  
The two of them also got along well.  
They shared many common interests and were both well-educated. Sometimes they engaged in conversations he couldn't make heads nor tails of.

"Cheer up, boys and girls! – the driver, a young agent named Ash said, joyfully – Here's the sign to the Shermans': we're almost there."  
He turned into a unpaved road, lifting a considerable cloud of dust.  
The team let out a collective sigh of relief, Abe in particular, as he was resenting the increasing heat.

"So, what's the plan now? - asked Hellboy, sounding annoyed – No,no, let me guess. It includes us waiting here, right?"  
Liz smiled: he was really cute when pouting.  
She leaned towards him and kissed him lightly. "Let us girls do the talking, Red. It won't take much time, I promise." she said softly.

The truck stopped in front of a big farmhouse, next to a new and expensive pickup.  
"OK, goodbye Red, Blue, Professor." Ash said, unfastening his seat belt and unlocking the door.  
"You two are not coming either, boys." Liz words stopped the two agents on their tracks.  
"Why not?" asked the other agent.  
"Two women are less intimidating. The cowboy might talk more freely with us." Daisy Marsh explained, having a great experience in retrieving information from uncooperative witnesses.  
The agents tried to protest but the two women left anyway, leaving the rest of the crew in complete boredom.  
"Would you mind if I turn the music on?" Ash said, breaking the silence after long moments.  
"Absolutely not, as long as you turn the air conditioner on maximum power – replied Abe, in a tired voice – I am stewing."

Talking to Jeremy was an easy job.  
The lad was eager to narrate his adventure to anyone willing to listen: apparently he had already told his parents, his brother and most of the workers.

Daisy and Liz asked directions to a Mexican worker who barely spoke any English and were directed to the stables.  
Jeremy was there, tending to a beautiful brown steed. He was a strong young man, blond and blue-eyed, his fair skin heavily freckled due to his outdoors lifestyle.  
The women noticed that his cowboy outfit missed a hat: maybe he hadn't replaced it yet.  
He volunteered a lot of information about the creature.  
"I had some time to look at it, before being knocked out. - he confided – The others fled immediately but he remained to challenge me." he was making it seem some macho thing, something personal.

"The others were like him?" Daisy asked, eagerly.  
"No, just regular, coward coyotes." Jeremy replied with a hint of despise. "The weird one was different. He was not afraid of the horse or the gun. I think he was their alpha and he challenged me."  
"And won." added Liz under her breath, thinking that the lad had some serious issue with his masculinity.

Daisy ignored her colleague's remark, however funny, and continued with the questioning.  
She asked him a detailed description of the creature, which he promptly gave her.  
Apparently it, or he, as the witness insisted, was bigger than the average coyote and stronger in build, looking more like a dobermann that everything else, wiry but muscled.  
It was a lot of information, but what made her day was knowing that the beast had scarlet eyes and a forked tail.  
This was important information, indeed, and it corroborated her half-formed theory.

**Almost no clues in this chapter, but the challenge is still open.**

**Come on ladies and gentlemen, the stats count 138 views so far but just two of you replied/reviewed. Be more cooperative!  
I write for fun, it is true, but I would like to improve, and it is not possible since I have no feedback.**

**Please, be good, review, or I may be forced ask Ruddy to devastate your lettuce plants.  
**


	6. Professionalities

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.  
I do not own any HP Lovecraft characters or places, either. I just borrow them.**

**Another BPRD-centric chapter with no particular warnings, just a little irony. It focuses on investigation and team relationships.  
The parts in _Italics_ are memories or visions.  
**

**Challenge's still up: _who_ Ruddy really is?  
Please review and make your guess.**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Jeremy willingly led the agents to the place of the sighting to corroborate his story.  
He rode a white horse, considerably less good than the steed he had been tending to.  
"Pasha is still shocked by the creature and fit for nothing. - the lad explained, strapping the saddle on his mount – The finest horse in the ranch, he was. Another good reason to shoot dead the bastard."  
He rode in front and they followed him slowly with the truck.  
Jeremy offered to lend them some horses but they refused, explaining that their equipment was in the rear compartment.  
The boys would have never forgiven the two if they had left them to rot in the truck and gone on their own.  
The cowboy just shrugged and watched with amusement poor Ash fighting with the steering wheel to trespass mounds and ditches.

"Red, I'm starting to feel nauseous." Abe complained after some moments.  
The truck rolled and pitched like a ship in a gale, no, worse, because there will be water everywhere then, and he loved water.  
"Breathe deep, Abe." professor Krauss suggested, quite alarmed.  
The fishman obeyed, closing his eyes and trying to relax, but this only worsened his predicament.  
"Oh, crap! Abe, you are turning gray!" Hellboy exclaimed.  
Abe's stomach churned unpleasantly, his motion sickness worsened by being confined in a small, closed space.  
_Think about water, water is good, _he thought desperately.

Finally the truck stopped, much for the relief of everyone.  
Abe was in worst conditions but, apart from Ash who had been too concentrated on driving and professor Krauss who had no stomach, all of them were feeling a little unsettled.

The agents descended from the truck on wobbly legs, much to Jeremy's amusement.  
"I had told you that it would have been easier ahorse, hadn't I?" he commented, smiling, from the back of his mount.  
Liz glared at him and tried to steady herself.  
"Is this the place?" she asked, curtly.  
"Yeah, it is. There are the remains of poor Betsy – he pointed, with a meditative expression – and there is where I shot him."  
The agents glanced in that direction and saw the skeleton of a cow, almost completely devoid of flesh, and an inconspicuous reddish stain on the ground.

"I see. – concluded Daisy Marsh – Well, Mr. Sherman, thank you very much for your help. We'll let you know if we find anything."  
"You are dismissing me!" he protested, offended.  
"We must have no interferences on our work, Mr. Sherman, I hope you understand." added Liz, trying for sympathetical and apologizing, but still groggy from the ride.

Jeremy stiffened and bristled, insisting that since it was his father's land he had the right to assist the agents in the search.  
He could have talked to the ground, for all the effect it had.  
The agents just looked at him with empty eyes. They were ignoring him.  
The cowboy cursed and made his mount turn, galloping right back to the ranch whitout even saying farewell.  
"Such an educated lad..." Ash commented, laughing.

"Come out, Abe, there is no one in sight now!" Liz encouraged her still nauseous friend, opening the rear compartment of the truck.  
Abe got out slowly, legs shaking and as soon as as he touched solid ground he fell to his knees, breathing heavily.  
"You are not so grey now. Are you feeling better?" Hellboy asked, crouching beside him.  
The fishman managed a tremulous smile. "The world's still spinning but much less than before. I'll be fine in some minutes, I think."  
Hellboy got to his feet and brushed the dirt from his clothes. "OK, Abe, just stay there until you are fully recovered. We'll start the search, if you do not mind."  
"Go ahead, my friends. It may take a while. - Abe replied softly – Just make sure you do not touch anything."  
"I promise." Hellboy said, smiling, and strolled towards the women and Krauss, who were already working.  
Ash remained next to the truck, leaning on it. "Want a cracker? It helps no end a troubled stomach." he offered, good-naturedly.

Daisy Marsh was instructing Liz on how to take accurate photos of the scene.  
"You have to take preliminary sketches and a general overview photo of the area before starting with the details." she was instructing.  
Liz was impressed by her competence and professionality. She listened to the academic with interest, her explanation highly reminiscent of what she had heard at a criminology conference.  
"Have you ever taken a Forensic Sciences course, Daisy?" she abruptly asked, interrupting her colleague.  
Daisy looked startled for a moment and then laughed, putting a stray lock of hair back in place. "No, never, but at University, during my post-graduation and PhD, I had many courses about field research. It is not so different from Forensics."  
She looked at Liz with a new interest. "Did you attend Forensics?" she asked, curious.  
Liz blushed. "Just a few conferences, some time ago. - she had barely managed to finish high school, going in and out from clinics – I never had time and now it is only worse, with two kids to care after."  
"Oh yes, I know. That's why I am still postponing the search for a companion." Daisy concluded sympathetically, with an emphasive gesture.  
Liz smiled, she was beginning to enjoy having another woman in the squad, someone to share her thoughts with.

Daisy looked into the distance and sighed.  
She clapped her hands and retrieved her camera.  
"Enough girl talk! Let's get to work!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.  
Examining the area she took some notes about the position of traces and remains, then she set to the task of taking the photos.  
Carrion birds had been on the scene and dragged some scraps of the dead cow here and there, but the scene was otherwise intact.  
Carefully avoiding destroying any evidence, she focused on the prints.  
There had been no strong wind or rain in the past two days so they would be almost as they had been that night.  
She counted many series of prints, mostly of coyotes, but also some of a larger canid.  
A first series ended abruptly at the red stain on the ground and another started from there: judging from the prints the creature had his hind right leg wounded.  
She searched the ground nearby and found a bloodstained rifle bullet.  
Daisy took a photo, then put scales next to it and took another photo.  
The sun glinted on something metallic not far away.  
Another bullet.  
She let a low cry of satisfaction.

"Found anything interesting, Doc?" asked Hellboy, letting out a cloud of cigar smoke and squatting to have a better view.  
"The evidence match the witness' narrative, so far." the woman said, grinning.  
"I hope you have not touched anything." he added, thoughtfully.  
Daisy scowled and was going to give him an outraged reply, but the ectoplasmic professor Krauss prevented her.  
"Please, Red, do not be so rude. - he scolded with his cultivated European voice – She is a trained professional."  
She nodded a "thank you" and he dismissed it with an elegant gesture of his hand.

The sound of uneven footsteps announced Abe's arrival.  
He still looked pretty bad, but at least he was on his feet again.  
"Are you OK, Mr. Sapien?" Daisy asked.  
She was the only one to call him like that, and she did it not to show distance but respect, for a fellow scholar.  
"Oh, quite. But I fear I am not made for this place. - he replied calmly – I'd better put myself to work so we can leave this wretched place."  
Though he was wearing a complete isolating suit, he felt like dehydrating:  
Everyone moved, leaving space for him to inspect the scene on his own.  
He performed a quick recognition of the area, then knelt next to the blood stain.  
"It is the creature's, isn't it?" he asked.  
"Think so." answered Red chewing at the butt of his cigar.  
Abe nodded and pulled off his gloves.  
His hands hovered over the stain, hesitatingly.  
"I do not know if i can do this with an animal. - he admonished – I'll try."  
"We'll see if monsieur Descartes was right." Krauss added.  
Hellboy looked a question to him.  
"A French philosopher of XVIII century, who theorized that animals had no soul." the German professor explained.  
As he had no face it was hard to tell, but it felt like he was a little disappointed by the cultural level of some of his colleagues.

Abe smiled at his friends' antics and resumed his work.  
He carefully lowered his hand on the stain, opening up to catch whatever memory he could.

_Running through the plain, excitation.  
Taste of blood in his mouth, the prey's blood like red exstasy.  
The pack's voices united in one, the most beautiful music to his ears.  
He was king again, and his heart sang with joy._

_Pain shooting through his veins, like he had not felt in centuries, almost unreal.  
Rage, blinding, consuming.  
The human fell to the floor at his will, struck by his power._

_Memories of other men fallen at his feet, submitting to his might._

_Blood._

_He was bleeding too, now.  
The human had to pay, had to be humiliated.  
Pissing on his hat was a poor substitute for what he whished he could do. _

Abe gasped and pulled away from the images.  
"Is it alright, Blue?" Liz asked, worried.  
Abe shook his head. The visions were almost like those he had from humans or fey, but stronger, feral.  
He didn't see the creature's memories, he felt them, like he had slipped in the other's skin.  
"The possibilities are two, – he said, breathing heavily to regain control - Descartes was wrong or what we are chasing is not exactly an animal."

* * *

**Have you any guess to make?  
Did you like/dislike what you have just read?  
Please review and let me know.**


	7. Gotcha!

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. i do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.**

**This is another BPRD-centric chapter, with some more Abe having motion-sickness-related problems and some gore at the end. (but it is all Ruddy's fault) He will make a short, quite cute, appearance as well towards the end.**

**Thanks to Hoodoo for the review. She is the only one that cares.**

**Challenge's still up: _who_ Ruddy really is?**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

The support team arrived later that night and they camped at an abandoned ranch near a strange flat hill, with the intention of performing a thorough search of the area the following morning.

It had been an exhausting day for everybody, especially for Abe, who was now resting in the old ranch's abandoned well, since there was no way of filling the tank which was in the support truck.  
The water was a little murky but cool and pure, and it would do for some days, or at least until the support team managed to fill the tank somehow.  
Tonight he'd sleep with a family of newts, which were quite lovely, to tell the truth.

The following day was tiring as well.  
They followed the faint tracks of the pack of coyotes Abe had been able to identify the day before.  
He had discovered that animals also left sensory memories he could catch, only they were less coherent and vivid.  
This just confirmed his first impression about the creature, whose memories were so unlike those of humans as they were different from those of his pack.  
The pack had marched a long way trough the arid plain: he could feel the coyotes' tiredness and confusion and also affection, from one of the females.  
All he could sense from the creature were a grim determination that made him march despite the wounded leg and sense of responsibility.

They followed the tracks all day long on their vehicles.  
The road was as horrible as it had been the previous day but Abe had taken a drug against motion-sickness before embarking and was feeling quite good, though it made him feel sleepy.

It was early afternoon when they found a place where the pack had stopped for a while.  
All the team descended from the truck to examine the place.  
There were prints everywhere, all mixed up together.  
"They look new, no more than a day old." said Daisy, thoughtfully.  
"How do you know it, Doc?" asked Hellboy who was a city person anyway.  
She pointed at some small tracks crossing the coyotes'. "Look, – she explained – these have been made by insects and rodents which only come out at night. The prints are still very defined so it must have been last night."  
Hellboy was positively impressed by her competence.  
She read tracks as well as any ranger though she looked more like a high-school maths teacher.

Daisy motioned for Abe to come closer.  
"It looks like they stopped here for a while and then the tracks split. - she commented – Maybe you could tell us what happened." her voice held a not-so-subtle hint of admiration.  
"With immense pleasure, Doctor Marsh." he replied and set immediately to the task.

He concentrated and laid his bare hand on the ground, eyes closed, breathing evenly as if performing some meditation exercise.  
Then he let out a cry and fell to the ground.  
"Abe!" Liz screamed, rushing towards him.  
Everybody crowded around him, until Liz yelled them away.  
Abe stirred lightly, groaning. "I think I should never take motion-sickness pills before using my gift anymore." he mumbled.  
"How are you feeling, Blue?" Hellboy was quite worried, kneeling in the dirt beside Liz.  
Abe grimaced. "It looks like a combination between a hangover and flu." he replied, rather dismally and struggled to his feet.  
Daisy Marsh gave him a hand up, carefully not touching any exposed skin, not to trigger another fainting.

"Did you see anything, Mr Sapien?" she asked, while leading him to the truck. She made him seat on the floor of the back compartment, opened a bottle of mineral water and handed it to him, holding it with a cloth.  
Abe drank his fill of water and thanked her with a nod.  
"Thank you, doctor Marsh – he said with a flimsy smile – And as for you question, yes, I saw them."  
Daisy seated herself near him, but not too close, and encouraged him with a warm smile.  
"He knows we are after him. - he sighed – That's why he left the pack and continued on his own."  
She mused about this piece of information pacing in front of him. "How could he know?" she asked, more to herself than to really be answered.  
She had lapsed into addressing the creature as 'he', as Sherman had done and Abe was doing.  
"I do not have the least idea, – Abe continued – but he does, and he didn't want to put the pack in danger, so he left them. And now he is alone again."  
"He doesn't think like an animal at all." Daisy commented, thrilled.  
Abe nodded. "He doesn't feel like one, but neither like a human or fey."  
He sighed, thinking at what had felt like holding Nuala's hand in his own.

The truck's satellitar phone rang loudly, tearing him away from his sad thoughts.  
Ash ran to the driver's seat and answered it.  
"Yes, boss." the young agent said.  
He remained silent for a while, listening intently and then scribbled an hasty note on the notepad screwed to the dashboard. "Hudson ranch, 1117 Interstate road, Moon Hill. - he carefully repeated – That's right boss, we're going to check." he hung the phone and flung himself out of the truck, excitement painted on his youthful face.

"Hey, guys! - he yelled, waving his arms in the air to get everyone's attention – The thing has struck again last night. We're moving!"  
The team rushed to their seats, as Ash turned on the engine and searched their destination on the GPS system.  
The place was 45 miles of desert from the place they currently were.  
"He walks fast, the bastard!" growled Hellboy, holding to his seat for dear life, as the truck rocked and pitched and bounced on the uneven terrain.  
Abe groaned, the effect of the pill, fading away.  
"I'm heading to the interstate, it will be over soon." shouted Ash, overcoming the noise of the engine.

The Hudson ranch was just an old farm, well kept and with a nice porch, nothing like the Sherman's.  
Its owners were Timothy and Arabella Hudson, which had called the police in the morning, after waking up in the stable, amidst their slaughtered goats.  
They were being questioned in their house by two agents of the support squad, while the others inspected the "crime scene" so to speak.

The five goats were in a very bad shape.  
Blood and gore were everywhere, and the place stank.  
"It is almost unbelievable that a single animal had managed to make such a slaughter." Liz commented, disgusted.  
Daisy Marsh, instead, was thrilled.  
She squatted on the blood-soaked ground, examining the wounds on the goats.  
The creature had apparently killed the goats by opening their throats and subsequently savaged them, eating a bit here and there and licking the blood.  
This unchecked savagery fit in her theory.  
Maybe it was time to tell his colleagues about it.

Abe watched her investigate, unmoved by the carnage, so concentrated on her task.  
He felt quite sick, instead. It was not as gruesome as it had been in the Museum, when Nuada unleashed the tooth fairies on the visitors, but it was close.  
And all the mess had been done by a single being, who however had not harmed the two humans.  
The Hudsons told the police that they saw a flash of blinding light before passing out, and the beast was still inside the stable.  
Apparently he had just walked away afterwards.  
It was so strange.  
He hovered his hand on the bloodstained wall, it was enough to feel. He didn't want to be sucked in again.

_He felt enjoyment, hunger finally sated, thorough satisfaction.  
The creature felt it was a job well done.  
He knew his pack would be safe now, as "they" would chase after him alone.  
_

Abe staggered, stepping on something that was not meant to be rolling on the floor. the thing squished under his boot and he slipped.  
His hand flew to the wall to steady him and then he saw.

_He saw the creature sleeping contentedly, laying on his side, legs twitching, dreaming whatever alien dogs dreamed.  
He was hiding in a cave under a gnarled old tree, on a solitary hill lost in the middle of the plain.  
His fur was red, and not from blood, it was his natural color.  
He had long square tipped ears, a curved snout, which remined him of Bull Terriers, and an odd forked tail, which twitched in his slumber._

He got back from his visions with a victorious smile and a sticky, bloody hand.  
He knew that the creature was still there, sleeping and he would not wake before sunset.

Daisy gave him an interrogative look and a tissue, which he promptly used to clean his hand.

"I have good news, doctor Marsh. - he announced proudly – I know where to find the creature now."  
Daisy Marsh let out a cry of joy.  
"You are unvaluable, Mr. Sapien!" she exclaimed and she hugged him.  
It left him breathless, pleasantly surprised and also slightly embarassed.  
But it felt good.

**Did you enjoy this chapter?  
Do you want to try and solve the challenge?  
Please review. It helps me make progresses.**

**More Ruddy in the next chapter and also we'll know _what_ the hell he is. (but not _who_, as this is up to you to discover)  
**


	8. Battle plans

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD characters. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.**

**Thanks to SummerStars00 for the review: your answers gave me ideas and were included in this chapter.  
Thanks again to Hoodoo, my most affectionate reader: you support is very important to me.  
**

**No warnings for this chapter, just mild cursing.  
Dr. Daisy Marsh (Hoodoo's premium OC) will finally reveal _what _Ruddy really is, but, as you will see in this and the next chapter, there's much more than this.  
So the challenge is still up: _who _Ruddy really is?**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

Daisy and Liz entered the house, where the still-terrified witnesses were much pleased to provide information to capture "the bloody bastard who killed poor ol' Orson and the girls."  
Those people were excessively fond of their goats.

They had a good map of the area, one of the kind used for trekking, and agreed that the place Abe had mentioned, the solitary hill with an old tree on top, had to be the Gallows Hill, a scary place where an indian chief was hanged during the Mexican War.  
The local population believed that the hill was haunted by the ghost of the indian, who paced restlessly on its top on the full moons.  
Daisy and Liz, secretly smiling at the local superstitions, thanked them a lot and asked to borrow the map.  
Timothy Hudson gladly granted their request and went so far to offer himself as a guide to the place.  
"I'd get you there in no time, miss. - he proposed to Daisy – I know very well the place, when I was young and my father ran the ranch, I used to go there and try to find the indian's treasure."  
Daisy raised an eyebrow in a sceptical expression. "What treasure?" she asked.

"They say the indian had received a lot of money from the Mexicans to harass our troops. - Tim Hudson replied in a confidential tone – They paid him in golden coins for his treason and he buried them someplace in the desert, but the army found it out and hanged him on the hill." His eyes glinted with greed during his narrative.  
"Many people tried to unearth the treasure but no one succeeded. - he continued – I believe it is on the hill, where his ghost stands guard, but I never managed to find it."  
The man looked rather abated. "I know the place well, and I know how to use a gun. Let me help you get the red bastard, miss." He almost pleaded.

Another case of hurt macho pride, Liz thought.  
The beast had a knack in humiliating proud cowboys.

The two women had a hard time in trying to make him desist, until his wife, who had remained silent until that moment, called him in a soft voice.  
"Do not go Timothy. - she said with a wild look in her glazed sky-blue eyes – He is not a creature of this world. He struck you with light last night. I saw it, before fainting." She looked like an odd prophetess, with her long wild hair and a flowing white dress, trembling like a child.  
"Arabella!" her husband scolded, but held her close and whispered sweet nothings in her ear, trying to soothe her.  
The woman was in shock, it was easy to understand, given the scene she had witnessed.  
"What do you think it is, Mrs. Hudson?" Daisy Marsh inquired, not wanting to miss any relevant information.  
"He is the devil! The devil!" the poor woman murmured, crying.

The two women left the house a little unsettled and headed for the truck, where the boys were already having a strategic meeting.  
"We got the map." Liz announced, spreading it on a little camping table they had opened for the occasion.  
"We are here. - she drew a circle with around the mark representing the Hudson's ranch – The place where the creature is supposedly sleeping is there." She drew another circle around the name Gallows Hill.

Ash whistled. "Nice place to rest - he commented – But at least it is not that far, just ten miles of unpaved road. I'll leave you near the western side of the hill, from there you will go on foot, there is the risk of alarming the creature. We can make it." He smiled, he enjoyed the cross-country driving and the hunt.  
Hellboy smiled. "Finally something interesting to do. - he said, flexing his stone hand in anticipation – Let's go catch him, before he wakes up and we get to follow him through more miles of empty desert."  
Abe nodded grimly: he was fed up with feeling sick and the constant heat.  
"Let's try to capture it alive, though. - he reminded – This time it is not a mangy coyote like the ones they found in San Antonio or Cuero, it is a real one. It would be so much important to study it."

Professor Krauss nodded and mumbled something, slumped on the chair.  
"No problem. – said Hellboy – We have plenty of tranquilizer darts for your chupa-thing, Blue, and Scott there has a good aim."  
The aforementioned agent grinned.

Dr. Marsh cleared her throat and stood up. "I am sorry to contradict you, Mr. Sapien, but I do not think it is a chupacabras, after all."  
Abe stared at her, eyes wide open, mouth agape, unable to speak.  
"So, Doc, what the hell do you think it is?" asked Hellboy.  
"It could be a Shunka Warakin or a displaced Waheela, but guessing from the unusual shape of ears and tail, I think it is a Salaawa." she replied.  
"A what?" he retorted, baffled.  
Dr. Marsh sighed. "It would be a quite long explanation. - she anticipated – We'd better get going, I'll tell you on the way."

Ash turned on the engine and pulled away at low speed.  
Daisy resumed her explanation.  
"Salaawa are another species of cryptids from Europe, whose description match with the data we have collected so far. They were sighted in Russia, Armenia and Pakistan as far as the nineteenth century, but they are originally from Egypt, where they are believed to inhabit the ancient tombs in the desert."  
"They do travel a lot, the bastards. - Hellboy commented, chewing on an unlit cigar – How did one of them get here, in the middle of nowhere in Texas?"  
"I have no idea. Maybe there is some sort of wildlife traffic going on but that's not the point. - she continued – The reports say that they form packs with members of their species and other canids and raid the countryside, slaughtering cattle and then disappearing."  
"That's our red-furred boy!" Scott laughed.  
"Let me finish, please! - she complained, voice unsteady because of the bumping of the truck – Chupacabras are shy creatures and they run away from humans when confronted. Salaawa instead are aggressive, they attack humans and sometimes kill them. So please, get it alive if you can, otherwise we can study the corpse as well."  
"Worry not, Doc – laughed Hellboy, checking his revolver – It is just a weird dog, anyway."

****************

_They are here!_

Ruddy woke up with a start, ears twitching and eyes wide open. The last remnants of a dream clinging to his mind were washed away by a massive adrenaline rush.  
He let out a long string of curses, concerning his hunters, their family and friends and generally all the people inhabiting this awful land he was trapped into.  
Getting to his feet, he crawled out of the cavern, staying low not to make an easy target of himself.  
How did they find him so soon?  
He had very carefully erased his tracks with an uprooted bush after his hunt in the farm with the Ionic columns.

The sun was setting, low on the horizon, its light still bright enough to make him squint as he turned westward to scan the area.

There they were, clever enough to use the light to their advantage.  
They were no amateurs.  
His eyes adjusted to the light and he had a better look on them: the first in line was a big red demon with a stone hand, his horns sawed to almost nothing.  
Behind him came a blue-skinned male Triton wearing what looked like a skintight leather armour.  
Ruddy closed his eyes and opened them again, in disbelief.  
The triton was still there.  
Since he had not tasted alcohol in the last six months, it must be true, however impossible.  
A damned triton in the middle of the damned desert.

Ruddy shook his head.  
Maybe he was no triton at all, since he was accompanied by a demon and what looked like the leathery skin of some creature with a vase on top, moving about without anything inside.  
He cursed again.  
They could be the servants of some Great Demon, coming after him at their master's orders.  
Ruddy had done it already several times but he strongly hoped he could defeat them even trapped in this form.

A noise made his ears prick up: he heard a woman's voice.  
Hidden behind bushes there were other people: two human women in mannish clothes and some strangely dressed men wielding "thunder staffs".  
In this place people had a real fixation for breeches: everybody wore them, men and women, even if the climate didn't call for it.

He shook his head and dismissed the useless though funny thought, focusing on the enemy.  
Now he didn't think they were followers of some Great Bastard, they didn't look like madmen and didn't bears his _insignia_, his signs.  
The cultists were too showy not to advertise their allegiances somehow.  
They might be a simple, however annoying party of hunters.  
It was a strange land indeed, where demons allied with men.

The demon was already climbing the hill and the armed humans were creeping behind him, staying low and behind the bushes, but effectively circling his position.  
He needed to break the circle and run away as fast as possible.  
Since the humans were accompanied by a trio of weird creatures, he guessed that the rule of secrecy did not apply in this case.  
The humans already knew about the hidden world.

He sniggered, his mood considerably brightened by the perspective of a good fight.  
Hunting was fun, no doubt, but fighting against intelligent foes was what really made his day.  
He stepped out from the bushes, revealing himself fully and baring his fangs in a growl, hair on his back raised in a ridge.  
He had to exert a tight control to prevent his tail from wagging in delight.  
It would surely spoil the effect.

His hunters were in for a good ass-kicking.

* * *

**A.N about strange beasts mentioned in this chapter:  
Shunka Waranin is a cryptid from Montana. It looks like a big wolf, has a reddish fur and is known to slaughter sheeps on a regular basis.  
Waheela is another wolf-like cryptid from Canada which has been described as having red-yellow fur.  
**

**Have you enjoyed? Have you disliked?  
Please review and tell me why or make your guess on the second challenge.**


	9. Royal rumble

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I own just the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.**

**A warning for my readers: this chapter contains mild graphic violence, nothing terrible, but if you feel bad about spilled blood, please feel free not to read this chapter.**

**Challenge's still up and there are a lot of clues in this chapter.**

**Enjoy!  
**

"Oh my God!" Dr. Daisy Marsh murmured in excitement as soon as the creature came out of his bolt-hole.  
She couldn't believe her eyes.  
A real living cryptid, right in front of her, not running away but showing himself fully in a majestic pose: this called for photographic evidence.  
She left her cover and crept nearer, brandishing her camera.  
Kneeling on the dirt, she turned on the flash and took a photo.

Ruddy yowled in pain and closed his eyes, momentarily blinded.  
The woman attacked him with light.  
He had underestimated them, it seemed, but it was not going to happen again.  
He repeatedly blinked, his vision plagued by black spots, and used a little of his power to produce a bright miniature lightning which landed in the middle of the hunters.

"Oh, crap!" Hellboy exclaimed, jumping away from the coming lightning.  
This was not fair, he thought.  
Taking advantage of their moment of confusion and surprise, the beast closed in at full speed and slashed at his tight with sharp claws, then hit Abe and finally pounced Professor Krauss, sinking his fangs where the man's throat was supposed to be and toppling him.  
He looked quite abated when, upon shredding the contention suit, it simply deflated without a single drop of spilled blood, letting out what looked like smoke.

Hellboy hissed in pain but lost no time in drawing his gun to shoot at the red-furred bastard.  
The creature used another electric spark, aimed directly at his hand and forced him to let it fall down.  
His hand felt numb and useless.  
He cursed loudly.  
The damned dog laughed, not metaphorically but really.  
He laughed exactly like a human laughing, leaving the team completely dumbfounded.  
Their astonishment only increased when he said in a deep male voice with a slight accent: "You look so funny, demon."  
Hellboy was flabbergasted and quite offended but unable to react, as his mind tried to come to terms with the idea of a talking dog.

The moment of general paralysis was interrupted by a loud shot.  
The beast yelped in pain as a tranquillizer dart lodged itself in his hind quarters.  
"I so hate when people laughs in my face." said Scott dryly, gun still smoking.

It stung but didn't hurt as the first time he was hit some days ago.  
Maybe it was a different projectile, he mused.  
It annoyed him no end, though.  
"You are starting to piss me off." he admonished, growling.  
He turned and ran for the shooter.

Scott tried to shoot the creature again but had no time.  
His rifle was knocked out of his hands as he fell to the floor, the creature biting at his right arm.  
He punched hard at his muzzle and ribs with his free hand, to no effect, except irritating the creature further and making him bite harder.  
The bones of his arm snapped, the agent cried out in agony and lost consciousness.  
"Hold on, Scottie! I am coming!" yelled Ash, running towards his fallen comrade with a taser.  
He was not a good shooter and didn't want to risk hitting his friend.  
Undertaking a great personal risk, he got close to the beast and kicked him.  
The beast released his friend's arm and turned towards the new attacker.  
Ash fired his weapon.  
The electric darts hit the creature in the shoulder, a maximum effect point in humans, and discharged a powerful electric shock.  
The creature, however didn't yelp or convulse or drop to the ground, it just glared at him with scarlet eyes, fangs still dripping Scottie's blood.  
It looked like the taser had no effect.  
Ash paled and dropped it.

Mildly amused, Ruddy stared the brave human right in the eye.  
"Nice try." he acknowledged, before giving him a taste of his own medicine.  
The boy screamed nicely under the shock.

He had not much time to spare for thoughts, however, as the demon and the dark-haired woman charged him.  
He nimbly evaded the demon's stone hand, which dig a nice burrow on the ground, and managed to bite his arrow-tipped tail.  
The demon cried out and cursed, trying to pry his abused appendage from his grip by shaking him down.  
The woman screamed.  
From the corner of an eye he saw her conjuring a fire ball from her hands, aiming at him.  
"Holy Shit!" he exclaimed, dropping the demon's tail an trying to move away from the line of fire.  
He partially managed: the fireball scorched his left side and the tip of his tail instead of hitting him square on the face.  
He was in serious pain now, and seriously furious.  
Ruddy let go of his self-control and charged his foes as rage overwhelmed pain: he had to break the circle and get away as fast as possible, before it subsided and left him exhausted and hurt.

Liz threw another fireball at the beast charging her, but he dodged it, apparently unhindered by the burns he had just received.  
"Shoot him, for heaven's sake!" she cried out.  
One of the other gunmen profited of her aiming a third fireball at the creature and caught him in the back with a dart.  
The red bastard didn't stop, it looked like he had not even felt the sting.  
"With bullets!" she yelled.

Ruddy pounced the woman, who managed to dodge by sidestepping and punching out his injured left side .  
He managed to claw her arm and landed heavily, panting.  
He felt dizzy and numb, though he was not in such a bad shape yet.  
Replaying the last moments in his mind, he remembered being hit again by a projectile.  
Comprehension dawned on him: "You have poisoned me!" he bellowed, his voice like the rumble of thunder.  
He noticed the man wielding the "thunder staff" and stunned him with a mild shock, not wanting to exhaust his power.

His vision was beginning to blur: there was precious little time now.  
The hunters circled him loosely. Ruddy charged again, his target was the woman who had scorched him.  
Time seemed to flow slower than usually: as he ran towards her, surrounded by an electric nimbus, the demon rushed at her side.  
He leaped high in the air, with the intention of incapacitating her with a head blow and continuing his flight past her, but the demon's stone hand connected with his ribcage with a smacking noise.

The creature was thrown some feet away from the force of impact.  
He landed in a heap, apparently knocked out.  
Hellboy doubtfully rubbed his hand still tingling from the power surrounding the dog-thing.  
The nasty creature was slowly getting to his feet, coughing blood and staggering: he still glared at them with fury and determination, he still wanted to fight.  
Stubborn bastard, he thought with admiration.

Excruciating pain took over him at every breath.  
Ruddy felt his force seeping away, like water from a cracked pot.  
He knew the fight was over, he was shortly going to lose consciousness, but they were not going to be happy about it.  
As a brave and fierce Roman had said, if you cannot win, make sure you do not fall without you vengeance and leave a bloody and mournful victory to your enemy.  
That's what he was going to do.  
His vision was blurred and doubled, but he could still make out the demon's silhouette, right in front of him, the hill and its tree on the background.  
"I am not over yet." he whispered, coughing blood.  
He gathered every remaining ounce of his power and concentrated it.  
"_Vae victis!_" he bellowed, discharging a full-force lightning.  
The air around tore apart, thundering.

The women shrieked as the lightning passed just right of Hellboy and hit the old tree on top of the hill, shattering it in a million burning shards.  
Hellboy fell sitting on the floor, feeling weak and faint from relief.  
Liz rushed to his side, crying in relief. "I thought he'd kill you." she whispered.  
"I got lucky he missed." he admitted, hugging her tight.

The beast had passed out: even lying in a heap on the ground all burnt and bleeding it still looked menacing and proud.  
"Are these things supposed to do so?" he asked a trembling Dr. Marsh.  
"N-no. – she stuttered, caught between the desire of getting closer to the creature to examine him and the fear of him awakening again – They are not. I have never heard of anything like this."  
In the distance, Scottie was crying like a child, his arm broken by the force of the beast's bite.  
Two of the others, Ash and the other lad, were still down for the count.  
Almost all the members of the team got injured during the fight, and they were experienced agents.  
Their adversary was a mighty fighter and clearly intelligent.  
He had powers unaccounted for and talked: he had even said something in Latin!  
She felt like she had as a child when on Christmas morning her father had given her an old tome about mythical animals, she felt excited and fascinated.

"It looks like we had caught more than we were hunting for." said the incorporeal voice of Professor Krauss, summarizing the feelings of the team.  
"Oh, yeah. - concluded Hellboy – This guy is from hell."

**A.N on Latin stuff:  
The Roman guy quoted by Ruddy is Lucius Sergius Catilina, a Roman patrician who led a revolt in 63 B.C after his project for agrarian reform was vetoed in the Senate and found a glorious death in battle against the regular army.  
_"Vae victis!"_ means "woe to the conquered!"**

**Any ideas about Ruddy now?  
Please leave some feedback!  
**


	10. Introductions

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.**

**No warnings for this chapter: just some bad language and irony.  
The section in _italics_ at the beginning of the chapter is a dreamlike sequence. Any other part in this formatting is in Latin and will be translated at the end of the chapter.**

**Challenge's still up: _who _Ruddy really is?  
Come on, I gave you a fair amount of clues.  
There is a new secondary challenge: who is the woman in Ruddy's dream?  
Please reply by reviewing.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_  
Pain and rage had faded completely, leaving him empty, almost peaceful.  
He could not feel his body at all.  
Where was he?  
Had he left the material world?_

_Was he home?_

_He was floating weightlessly in the white mist, moving slowly but surely towards a distant light.  
Try as he might, he could not alter his course or turn around to explore his surroundings.  
Suddenly the scenario changed: floating shapes of light and colour swirled around him, creating indescribable monuments which defied any law of logic and geometry and destroying them again in the time of a breath.  
He contemplated the amazing show for what felt like eons, then the light changed sharply turning to a warm red and suddenly he was falling at terrible speed towards the red sand below him.  
The impact was terrible, but, strangely, he felt no fear.  
He felt his body was completely broken, bones pointing out at awkward angles.  
Lying on the warm sand, he felt no pain even if he knew he should._

_It felt like home, like Dashre.  
It smelled like home and he knew his house was near, yet he could not move a single muscle to reach it.  
Feeling frantic, he willed himself to move but could not.  
He tried to call for help but could not.  
He was trapped and was starting to panic.  
There was somebody coming in his direction, but he could not make out his or her outline as his sight had gone awry.  
It was as if his eyelids were glued together and he was trying to see through the narrowest slit._

_He heard footsteps approaching and a soft voice: "It is not time you return here, brother." a woman said.  
He could smell the sweet white scent of hyssop and jasmine her skin exuded.  
_"_Sister." he whispered hoarsely, the feat costing him an Erculean effort.  
He felt her kneeling beside him and desperately wanted to be able to look at her, but his frantic efforts were not rewarded with success.  
She raised her delicate hand and touched his forehead lightly, caressing him between the ears, and he calmed down instantaneously.  
"It is time you wake. Or are you going to give up?" she whispered.  
"No, never." he breathed, barely audible.  
_"_So, go." she ordered, her gentle voice bearing the hint of a smile.  
He could not disobey her in anything, he never could, not when she was being gentle.  
So he willed himself awake with all his concentration._

Pain flared throughout his body at his least movement, at every breath he took.  
Now he knew he was still on earth, still alive and awake.  
Wherever you go, no matter how far, when you return in yourself, pain will always welcome you back.  
He was lying on his burned side, which might not be the optimal solution, but it was fairly good at the moment, since he had at least a broken rib on the other side.  
His vision was still misty and blurred, but got better as he blinked repeatedly.  
Apparently his captors had locked him in a sort of cage made of an unknown substance which looked like glass but didn't feel like it.  
He heard some repetitive noises and felt a slight vibration. It reminded him of the sensation he got by traveling on a chariot, but had some alien quality he could not exactly place.  
Where was he now?  
Trying to make out his surroundings, Ruddy struggled to get to an upright position.  
After some painful failures, he desisted from raising himself and opted for just lifting his head from the hard surface he was lying on.  
That also proved an inappropriate move as the world started spinning and whirling around him.  
He lay back again with a groan._  
_

A noise woke Liz from her fitful sleep, making her lift her head from Hellboy's shoulder.  
She rubbed her eyes and cast a circular look at the compartment.  
Most of the team had almost passed out in exhaustion.  
Abe and Daisy were sharing one of the other blankets, sleeping seated next to one another.  
Professor Krauss did not sleep since he was ectoplasmic, but was meditating quietly in a corner, his contention suit hastily repaired with duct-tape. He probably considered it an indignity.

She pitied Ash and the other guy from the support squad, the one who had shot the last dart into the creature: they had to drive the team to the camp after being both electrocuted during the fight.  
Scottie, instead, was laying on a makeshift stretcher after an agent of the support squad had splinted his broken arm and sedated him directly on the spot.  
The pain was so much the guy had to use morphine but also ketamine, taken from the tranquillizer darts they had used to knock out the beast.  
She turned to the plastic cage they had put him into and locked stares with a pair of wide open scarlet eyes.  
Liz gasped: after all the damage he had taken and the double dose of drug, he was not supposed to regain consciousness so early.  
She got to her feet, letting the blanket covering her and Hellboy fall to the floor.  
"Red! - she whispered, gently shaking her boyfriend – The beast is awake."

Hellboy woke up with a start, mumbling incoherent words.  
"Whatever is up, now?" he asked in a sleepy voice.  
Liz just pointed her hand to the cage.  
Hellboy turned to look that way.  
The red thing was struggling to his feet: he managed to stand for a moment, then collapsed down again with a whimper and hissed something he could not understand but was almost certainly a curse.  
The expression on his muzzle was quite comical and frustrated.  
"No need to play the macho, doggy. - he teased, sniggering – We know you are scary and though. Just relax."  
"Go get hanged, demon." the creature said, with his baritone, weirdly accented voice. Hellboy was starting to wonder how he managed to talk at all.  
He decided to postpone the question and just shrugged. "You'd better calm down, you know? It's gonna be a long way home." he advised.  
"Where are you taking me? You have no right in keeping me here against my will!" the creature protested vehemently, little sparks emanating from his body.  
He was clearly trying to gather some power from showier manifestations.  
Hellboy was quite appalled as he had thought the creature had exhausted his forces in the fight.  
It was not true apparently, as a small lightning crossed the air in his direction.  
He jumped back, recoiling from its path, even if it was stopped mid-way by the plastic wall of the cage.  
"Blessed be plastic!" Liz sighed.  
The creature looked really disappointed, his ridiculously long ears drooping down, then he threw himself against the plastic wall in a fit of terrible rage.  
It was however short-lived, and ended in much blood coughing and panting.  
"You're gonna kill yourself with all this trashing about." Hellboy commented.  
The creature did not reply but the repressed fury burning in his scarlet eyes spoke volumes.

The noise of the creature's wild trashing woke up Daisy and Abe.  
Only Scottie continued sleeping his drug-induced sleep.  
The creature glared at the lot of them, as they gathered around the cage, refraining momentarily from any other act of hostility because of the pain.  
The two cryptid-maniacs were staring at him with eyes full of wonder: now that they were not threatened of being clawed or shocked to death, they could fully appreciate the unusual characteristics of their capture.  
"Fascinating." Dr. Marsh softly whispered, coming closer to the plastic cage. She inspected him as closely as possible, taking mental note of every detail.  
He fitted perfectly in the more absurd descriptions of Salaawa, except for the not-so-irrelevant ability of being able to summon lightning and to speak in English and Latin.  
She approached further and addressed him in Latin: "_Ave canis tonitruans. Mihi nomen est Margarita. Quaeso, revela nobis quid est nomen tibi." _she worded cautiously.  
The creature blatantly ignored her, staring at the empty space.  
Hellboy and Liz looked a question to Abe.  
"She has asked him what is his name. It is Latin." he explained, in a voice that was barely a whisper.  
"_Mihi nomen est Margarita."_ Dr. Marsh insisted, almost touching the cage.  
_"Mea non interest." _he growled, baring his fangs.

Daisy backed hastily away, overcautious.  
Plastic was good to block electricity, but she still thought it was too frail to contain the creature effectively, even in his wounded state.  
Well, at least she had the confirmation: the creature really knew Latin.  
"He is a vicious, stubborn bastard, Doc." Hellboy said, half-sardonic, half-apologetic, having perceived the rudeness in his reply.  
"I think he may be a berserker somehow. - stated Professor Krauss, thoughtfully – He ignores pain and wounds when he lets rage control him. But hopefully he is too weak now."  
"Stop talking about me as if I was not there!" the creature protested in a painfully raspy and low voice.  
"Behave civilly and we would." the German replied severely, like a high-school teacher scolding a naughty schoolboy.  
The creature growled again and tried to straighten up, to look more imposing. "Thank your gods you are already a spirit, or I would have made you cry for it." he whispered menacingly.

"You see, Doc. - Hellboy laughed - That's about the conversation one can have with him."  
"Not very stimulating." Liz added.  
"Hey guys! - called Ash's young voice from the front of the vehicle – I am still damn angry with him for poor Scottie, but I must say I'd be wicked pissed if I got drugged and ass-kicked and then got trapped in a cage."  
The beast nodded. "Your friend's words make sense. - he approved dryly– By the way, that Scottie shot me first. I just defended myself."  
"That's debatable." Hellboy argued.  
"Come on, demon, do not pretend. - the beast replied condescendingly – Your warriors attacked me first."  
Abe inserted himself into the conversation. "That is not true. You struck first with a lighting." he remarked politely.

Ruddy glanced curiously at the triton.  
How did he survive that long out of the water?  
And what was the weird collar he had around his neck? It must be very uncomfortable, since it covered his gills.  
"I struck only after the woman attacked me with light." he whispered painfully.  
Talking in a higher voice would have hurt him much more.  
It would have been best if he didn't talk at all, but he could not let his captors offend or accuse him without defending himself.  
He simply could not stand it.  
He so hated being weak and wounded.  
The triton gave him wide eyes, uncomprehending. "What woman?" he asked.  
"The one you were sleeping with." Sometimes he hated being obvious.  
The triton and the woman blushed, embarassed.  
Well, the triton did not exactly go red, rather bluer than usually, still embarassment was clear on his fishman features.  
She recovered first. "I did not attack you – she said apologetically, and in truth she did not look like a warrior – I just shot a flash..."  
Ruddy didn't let her finish.  
"Aha!" he exclaimed, regretting it all too soon and coughing up more blood.  
"So you admit it." he concluded weakly, after recovering.  
"I did not intend to hurt you or make the events precipitate." she apologized warmly.

Having this woman apologize after he had wounded and almost maimed most of her comrades weirded him out like nothing before.  
He looked at her, not knowing exactly what to say.  
It was very awkward.  
Eventually, he opted for simply letting the remark fall and insisting again on a more important topic.  
"Where are you taking me?" he asked, not for the first time that night.  
"At the BPRD headquarters. " the demon answered as if it explained everything.  
"That is in prison, I suppose." he whispered, quite depressed.  
The demon looked a little shocked. "No, it is no prison at all. It is just a safe place." he explained, not quite convincingly.  
"Do not even try to tell me it is for my own good. - he cut short, feeling anger boil into his veins again – I was quite safe where you found me."  
There was a moment of awkward silence, broken by the spirit with thick German accent.  
"But the people around you were not." he argued.  
The voice of the spirit had the ability to irritate him out of his wits, so pedantic and righteous.  
"I had the right to defend myself. And I did not harm them. Well, not much. I was just hunting." Ruddy protested.  
His captors just shrugged.  
"I have the right to come and go as I wish as long as I do not harm anyone." he insisted vehemently.

He looked at the strange people he was talking to: a pyrokinetic, a triton and a demon.  
They had a very sad and melancholy expression, and the other woman also shared their gloominess.  
Realization dawned on him.  
"We strange creatures are not free to come and go anymore, right? - Ruddy whispered sadly – Humans have forgotten about us and do not understand that they share the world with us."  
He thought about the them, who had no place to go as they did not belong to the world anymore but just to their army, which they could not leave.  
Humans would never accept them.  
"You are prisoners too." he said with grim finality.  
The demon nodded, sadly.  
"I am sorry." Ruddy whispered. It was useless but he felt like solidarizing with them.  
"It is not your fault." the demon replied dryly.  
"I mean, also for being such a bastard." he insisted, quite embarrassed.  
The demon and his comrades laughed.  
"In that case..." the triton said with a smirk.  
"I am Hellboy, these are Liz, Abe, Professor Krauss and Dr. Marsh and down there Ash and Rajeev." the demon introduced himself and his comrades, pointing them out as he said their names.  
He thought a little about his next move.  
He had many names, some he liked more than the others, but he did not want to be recognized.  
The name his pack had given him was just perfect for the present situation.  
"I am Ruddy." he said.

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**A.N about latin stuff:  
_Ave canis tonitruans. Mihi nomen est Margarita. Quaeso, revela nobis quid est nomen tibi_ = Hail, thundering dog. My name is Daisy. Please, tell us, what is your name?  
_Mea non interest_ = I do not give a damn.**

**Did you enjoy?  
Have you any guess to make on the challenges?  
Please review!**


	11. Revelations

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD characters. I just own the plot and the (many) OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either, he has a kind of life on his own.**

**Thanks to Hodoo, MetalJasonMyers and Keajo for reviewing last chapter: your opinion mean very much to me.**

**No warnings for this chapter: there is just some more interaction between the team and Ruddy, so just some irony and black looks, and some claustrophoby at the end of the chapter.**

**Challenge's still up: _who_ Ruddy really is?  
The reward for anyone who guesses right is a OC specially written on demand. The answers are getting closer to the target...**

**Enjoy!

* * *

**His captors were not so bad, after all.  
They had not allowed him out of the transparent not-glass cage, but at least had given him some much needed water and information.  
According to their words, they were some kind of state officials at the orders of a high-ranking governor, and their duty was to control the non-human creatures throughout the country's 50 Nomes, or States as they called them.  
They had not exactly said it like that, but this was the general meaning.

Returning to the headquarters would take quite a long time, they had told him, almost a full day.  
Ruddy quietly laughed at that.  
"Nice headquarters you must have, in the middle of the desert. - he commented, still whispering – Not that I'd complain, I like the desert. But there is nothing else in some days worth of travel from here."  
He paused briefly, musing.  
"Unless one can fly." he continued with dry irony, inwardly smiling at the memory of soaring through the air with the storm.

"Yeah,- Hellboy replied – That's what we're gonna do."  
He watched the expression on Ruddy's muzzle change from smug to astonished.  
"What did you just say?" he said, ears pricking up.  
The look on his face was priceless.  
"I said that we are gonna fly home." Hellboy repeated slowly, smirking.  
"How? That is not possible! - Ruddy raised his voice in disbelief, probably thinking they were mocking him – Humans do not fly. Tritons do not fly. I do not even think you can fly, demon."  
"That's right. We cannot. - Abe admitted – But it not like we are going to fly on our own. We are going by plane."

"By what?"  
Ruddy still could not understand.  
He was starting to feel silly and he didn't like it at all.  
The soldiers were talking about it as if it was completely commonplace.  
"You do not know what a plane is, right?" the demon asked, mockery now clearly showing in his voice.  
He felt outraged. "Do not dare to taunt me, demon..." he hissed, trying to look menacing, even if he had not power enough to do anything substantial.  
"Please, calm down, Ruddy, do not be offended. – Daisy, the woman who knew Latin, interfered – And you Mr. Broom, try to tone down your irony. We do not need another fight right now." Her voice was quite commanding, maybe she was accustomed to keep people in line.  
Ruddy figured she might be a scribe or a bureaucrat of some kind, maybe a teacher.  
Hellboy gave her a sheepish look and shrugged, like he had always done when scolded by his terribly stern and boring tutor.  
"Ok, ok." he acquiesced, hands raised in a submissive gesture.  
"The two of you behave like children!" Daisy complained.  
Yes, a teacher was the most probable option.

The compartment fell silent for a while.  
His captors were tired, as he was, and they were not much inclined to converse.  
It must be full night by now, he judged.  
He wished he was still free, roaming at his will under the stars.  
Silence filled the space, uneasily.  
Ruddy mused about the "flying home" part for a while, trying to decipher its meaning.  
Humans could fly now, by the means of a "plane", whatever that was.  
It was a strange land indeed, where women wore breeches and humans could fly and wielded fantastic weapons like the "thunder staffs" and the flashing device Daisy used.  
Where did his relatives drop him?  
"What is this place?" he asked out, not actually loud, but enough to echo in the still air of the confined place.  
"This is the USA, America, you know." the demon lazily answered.  
Ruddy didn't remember any place bearing this name, but it sounded like Armorica, the north-western part of Gaul.  
"Is it in Gaul or Germany?" he inquired, doubtfully.  
Hellboy laughed in his face but he chose to ignore him, at least until he could seriously kick his ass.  
The irritating spirit named Krauss replied in a pedant voice.  
"No, it is not. " he explained with his thick German accent.  
He had always thought Germanic people were barbarians with little culture but he had the impression that this spirit could bore even a Roman rhetor to death.  
"In fact we are on the other side of the Ocean from there." he concluded.

This revelation rendered him speechless for a moment, mind blank in horror.  
The other side of the Ocean...  
He quickly regained both sensibility and speech, though, and promptly used them to bellow a long string of elaborate curses in his mother-tongue, startling everyone else in the compartment.  
"What is up?" Liz the pyro said, worried.  
"Here is the other side of the world! The other damned side of the damned world!" Ruddy cried out, desperate.  
How would he get back when his exile ended?  
How?  
"The other side of the world from what?" Daisy asked.  
"From home, dammit! From home." he sighed, ears drooping, slumping to the floor of his cage.  
Dogs could not cry and he was really grateful that his animal form was dog enough to be subject to such a restriction or he would have done it, covering himself in shame.  
He was no novice in exile but he had never been sent so far away from his relatives, from his place.  
He felt rejected.

Abe was feeling quite sorry for the strange creature.  
Ruddy looked so miserable now, that it was surprising he didn't cry outright. "Pray, do not let you down, Ruddy. - Abe tried to console him – Europe is not that far away. There are many ships to Germany and France and planes too."  
Ruddy pricked up his ears again, attentive and interested. "Are there? And I can embark too?"  
Abe did not know what to respond.  
The personnel of any airways company would have a fit of hysteria if a talking dog tried to embark one of their planes.  
"Absolutely..." started to reply professor Krauss, quite amused.  
"...Yes, of course. - Daisy completed the sentence, quelling the Professor's protests with a commanding gesture. - But you must not harm or scare anybody on the way and you cannot travel on your own. People are not used to magical creatures anymore, so you have to act like a normal dog. Do you understand me?"

"Loud and clear, M_argarita. _I have to be accompanied by a human." Ruddy said. Finding a human to travel with him could prove difficult, but he had to give it a try.  
"Well, the problem is solved. - he declared cheerfully, gently wagging his scorched tail - You get me on one of these planes with some human and drop me in Europe, so your American people will get no further harm from me. Easy, isn't it?"  
"Well, not that easy." the demon replied.  
Ruddy sighed, he knew they would not let him go just like that.  
"What is the problem, then?" he asked, trying to maintain his voice calm and low.  
"I'll tell ya what the problem is, doggy. – the demon explained – We could get you on a plane and get rid of you for good, but we have to get the boss' permission first."  
"I see. - Ruddy pondered – But you could ask him, couldn't you?"  
"Yeah, we will, when we get back to the headquarters, but I doubt he would give his consent." the demon concluded.  
"Why?" Ruddy protested.  
"You are dangerous and violent." the spirit cut short.  
"Only when provoked" he retorted.  
Krauss snorted. "But you are too easily provoked."  
Oh, well... The German had hit the mark.

"And there is another problem, - Hellboy added – You wounded one of our agents."  
"But it was self-defence!" Ruddy protested.  
Did these Americans expect him to surrender without a fight?  
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but it wouldn't make a good impression anyway. - the demon explained – And Scottie is not going to be able to use his arm for at least a month." he lamented.  
Ruddy remained silent for some long moments, reformulating his strategy.  
The language used by his captors had a clear German origin, maybe they had some customs in common with Germans too.  
"I see. I guess I have to make good for the damage I have caused, then. - he commented – Let's make a deal: I'll offer myself as a slave to your army and I'll work for you until I have paid my debt. Is this acceptable? I have no other means of paying the _wergeld _for your companion." he proposed, swallowing his pride, almost choking on it.  
His captors gave him wide eyes.

"_Wergeld_?!" Hellboy and Liz muttered, uncomprehending.  
"He is offering to pay the price for Scottie's wound. It is an ancient Germanic law, dating back to pre-Roman times." professor Krauss explained, magnifying the team's astonishment.  
"It will not do, Ruddy. We do not have any slaves. Slavery was abolished a long time ago in this country." Abe objected, quite unsettled.  
How in hell was a dog-like creature supposed to know about _wergeld_?

This was Ruddy's turn to give them wide eyes, wondering how did they get anything accomplished without slaves.  
Maybe they just called them with a different name.  
"Slave, servant, worker, it is all and the same for me. - he replied with a not-so-subtle hint of arrogance – I'll make amends and repay my debt, I give you my word of honour."

There was another of those moments of awkward silence.  
Ruddy behaved disturbingly like a very proud and conceited human.  
"Thanks for the offer, doggy, but we cannot accept." Hellboy said.  
"Why not?" Ruddy asked, indignantly.  
"The decisional power is not completely ours, ya know. The boss always has the final word." he explained.

Ruddy sighed, discouraged.  
He had really hoped to clear his position before reaching the headquarters.  
"I guess I have to wait until we can contact him, then." he complained.  
"It is not gonna be a long wait. - Hellboy said trying to cheer him up – We'll be home by tomorrow night."  
"That's pretty fast." the creature commented, with an hint of admiration.

"You seem so eager to get back to whatever place you call home, creature. How did you get here in first place?" professor Krauss asked, suspiciously.  
Ruddy outwardly froze, but his mind was racing, trying to find a suitable explanation for his presence in their faraway country.  
He came out with many, one lamer than the other.  
"I- I do not remember. I j-just awoke here." he stuttered, hoping really hard that lies did not show that much on his canine features.  
Krauss snorted, clearly not believing him. "I think you are not telling us the whole truth."  
"Leave him be, Professor. - Daisy Marsh interrupted him – I think he was illegally brought here by some wildlife trafficants."

Ruddy followed the cue, readily inventing a pitiful kidnapping story.  
"Do you think I'd willingly leave my country? - he protested – I remember being home, then all went black and when I awoke I was trapped in a fence. I managed to escape to the desert and that's all." he lamented.  
From the look on their faces they seemed to believe him, apart from the spirit, whose face was unreadable and whose opinion was settled.  
"I just want to return home." he continued, trying his best to appear innocent and harmless.

"Hey, doggy, stop giving us puppy eyes. - Hellboy said with a laugh – You're not good at it at all."  
Ruddy gave him a black look and stopped promptly, quite embarrassed.  
"Let's say we believe you. - Hellboy continued with a remaining hint of laughter, eliciting a grin from Ruddy – You have to convince our boss now."  
"No problem." Ruddy said, as the repetitive sound and vibrations of their vehicle gradually stopped.  
"Everybody out, boys and girls! - exclaimed the jolly youth named Ash – Final stop!"  
The metallic doors of the compartment opened, letting the cool air of the night in.  
He breathed it deeply and inched closer to the wall of the cage, managing to look up at the night sky, clear and full of stars.  
It reminded him of his scornful and stern mother, so distant and so uncaring.  
He realized he missed even her.

As he was lost in meditation looking at the starry night, the team had vacated the compartment completely.  
The still-unconscious Scottie had already been carried out by two strangers, probably comrades of his.  
He was alone in the compartment now, locked in the cage.  
They were going to get him out also, he thought.

"Good night, Ruddy." Daisy said, waving a hand in salute and walking away.  
He answered with the same words and wagged his tail.  
The triton waved also and followed her out of the field of his vision.  
"'Night, doggy." Hellboy said, chewing his cigar and closing the doors.

Ruddy jumped to his feet, oblivious of the pain, in a fit of anxiety.  
"What are you doing? Do not lock me here!" he protested, his voice bearing a hysterical undercurrent.  
"I'm going to sleep, tomorrow's going to be a hard day. - the demon explained, exhalating a cloud of stinking smoke – And as for the doors, worry not, there is a hole down there for the air to get in." he pointed out.  
The doors closed heavily before Ruddy could protest further, leaving him in complete darkness.

Ruddy liked darkness, but he liked the open and vast darkness of the night, not the cramped and closed little darkness of confined spaces.  
He felt the walls of the compartment closing in on him, smothering him, not allowing him to breathe properly.  
Panick creeped in, battling with pride as he struggled not to scream for help.

Ruddy had grown claustrophobic after his brother's tragic and gory end.  
His sister thought it was his strange way of showing remorse.  
He had been oblivious of this phobia for ages: he lived outdoors most of the time, in the desert, and his house didn't even have glass panes at the windows.  
It was discovered a long time later, when he was locked in a sarcophagus for punishment.  
Forced to immobility, he resisted for some minutes, before screaming himself hoarse, calling for help.  
He behaved like an angel for a long time afterwards.

Ruddy felt dizzy and nauseous from hyperventilating.  
He tried to calm himself, breathing deep and evenly, and talking himself out of his phobia.  
Nothing bad was going to happen.  
It was not as bad as last time: he had room to move and turn and fresh air to breathe.  
He was not locked in a wooden box, nailed closed and sealed with lead.  
The murky water of the river was not slowly but steadily seeping between the wooden planks...  
He shook his head, trying to get rid of those morbid thoughts.  
It was going to be a damned long night.

* * *

**Any guess, my dear readers ? I have given you many hints in this chapter...  
Any comment or suggestion?  
Please review, it means very much to me.**


	12. Planes

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the (many) OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either, he has a kind of life on his own.**

**After many troubles, I finally managed to update! Hooray! All hail backup!  
No warnings for this chapter again, ther is just some claustrophobia again and gratuitous cuteness.**

**Challenge's still up! (you know the rest.)**

**Enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

Flying on a plane had its moments, in particular take-off, but was not so exciting as Ruddy had anticipated.  
A plane, he discovered, was another kind of metallic vehicle, shaped roughly like a bird.  
It made a tremendous noise and did not allow the passengers to feel the wind on their faces or to look outside.  
In fact it had some tiny oval-shaped windows, but they did not allow a wide field of vision.

What was the purpose of flying if one could not enjoy the wiew and the wind?

His captors didn't look like they were enjoying themselves much, also.  
They were strapped to weird cushioned chairs and looked bored: maybe travelling on a plane was such a common experience in this land that it didn't elicit much emotion from people anymore.  
The only one who seemed genuinely emotioned was Rajeev, the dark-skinned agent, who was clutching desperately at his chair, pale and sweating, clearly frightened by the thought of the open air all around their vehicle.  
The others were dozing off or looking idly out of the windows, as conversation was prevented by the noise.  
It had been a boring day all along and his captors had been locked in almost as much as he was.

He had passed an awful night, unable to sleep, panic gripping him tightly.  
His thoughts ran in circles: he considered calling for help, then he thought it was below himself.  
Next, he bid himself to resist, morning was not far.  
He counted the time but it seemed to run too slow and panic rose again in his heart, and again he thought about giving up and calling someone to get him out.

To kill time and keep himself company, he finally resorted to hum some of his favorite songs, but he quickly exhausted his repertoire.  
Silence enveloped him again, filling him with dread.  
He started repeating the pitagoric tables, then the conjugations of Greek irregular verbs, which he had always hated heartily, and eventually every piece of poetry he could remember.  
Finally morning came: he welcomed dawn with heartfelt joy and thanked the sun for its warm light which illuminated a little the compartment, allowing him to see the walls, still in their original places.  
He managed to relax a little and fell asleep.

He awoke a little later, when the doors of the compartment opened wide letting the bright light of the sun and the fresh air of the morning in.  
Almost blinded by the sharp and sudden change in illumination, he heard the demon's voice.  
"Hey doggy! Good morning." he saluted, exhalating his usual cloud of foul smoke.  
As infuriating and unrespectful as the demon was, Ruddy felt like hugging him from sheer gratitude.  
"Good morning, demon. - he said, almost pleading, unconsciously wagging his tail - Please, let me out of here."  
"Don't like closed spaces, uh?" the demon sniggered.  
Ruddy felt quite infuriated: was it so damn evident?  
"No, I just need badly to water the plants. - he quickly replied, dismissively – Let me out or I'll do it right here and right now." he menaced, and in truth his bladder felt uncomfortably full.  
"Don't you dare! - the demon exclaimed, outraged – I'm not going to do the rest of the trip in a place stinking like dog piss."  
Ruddy grinned evil, satisfied with having found a perfect excuse to both get out and irritate the demon.  
"Be quick, then. I do not know how much I can resist..." he admonished, hiding his laughter behind a look of concentration and suffering.  
Hellboy raised his hands in front of himself and shook his head. "No, no, good doggy, hold on." he pleaded, looking around to find someone to help him.  
Refraining from laughing cost Ruddy a great effort and hurt his injured ribs.  
The demon localized some agents and ran straight towards them, turning once to call to him.  
"Hold on!" he exclaimed, running away.  
"I'm not going to make it..." Ruddy called back, grinning when his words made the demon run faster still.  
He saw him talking excitedly to some agents, gesturing frantically towards the vehicle.  
One of the agents, the young and brave one called Ash, dashed to a large box abandoned nearby, rummaged through its contents and returned to the truck with Hellboy, carrying something behind his back.  
"Ok, doggy, we're getting you out. - the demon said, warily unlocking the his prison – But you have to behave."  
"I promise. " he replied. His body instinctively tensed, ready to run away, it hurt and he relaxed: he was not going anywhere like that.

Ash smiled and revealed what he was hiding: a leash.  
"Oh, no. - Ruddy protested indignantly – There's no way you're going to put me on a leash."  
"Listen, doggy, - Hellboy said, quite annoyed – do not be so difficult. You get out like that or you remain in the cage."  
Ruddy silently debated the possibilities in his mind.  
He wanted out badly and he needed to relieve himself, he could sacrifice his pride once in a while, couldn't he?  
"I guess I have no other option..." he admitted gloomily, allowing the youth to leash him.  
Ash winked and grinned. "I won't tell anyone, I promise." he said.  
"Thank you, Ash." Ruddy said, walking slowly out of the cage.

The boy was patient and allowed him to take his time, sniffing around to find a suitable place.  
Walking proved painful and tiresome, but he needed it.  
He needed feeling the wind on his skin and the sand under his feet once again.  
It was a short interlude however, and soon they returned to the vehicle, where he was locked into the cage once more.  
He didn't complain, too tired by the sleepless night and the exertion.  
The soldiers boarded the vehicle and soon it started moving again.  
Lulled by the motion, he slept like an angel.

Hours later the vehicle stopped, but the vibrations and noises did not.  
He heard Ash talking with someone and giving him what looked like a password.  
There was a noise much alike to creaking hinges, and the vehicle moved again at considerably lower speed.  
Ruddy gave his captors a quizzical look.  
"Where are we?" he asked.  
"The military airport. - Abe the triton explained – It is the place where planes stay."  
Ruddy wagged his tail enthusiastically and yapped in excitement. "We're getting on a plane? Right now? May I see it?"

Abe laughed: Ruddy looked pretty much like a child right now.  
He had behaved tolerably well since he had been caught and in truth he felt a little guilty for his capture.  
Last night, before returning to the well to sleep with that nice family of newts, he had talked to Daisy for a while and found that she shared his thoughts: whatever his real nature, Ruddy was an intelligent being and it felt strangely wrong to treat him like an animal.  
They had debated about the topic and Abe told her he believed Ruddy was some kind of fey trapped in an animal form by magic.  
He had arrogance and pride enough to fit in the character and his references to the human world were centered on antiquity as fairies' were.  
Daisy appreciated much his hypothesis, and her approval gave him a warm happy feeling, but she still believed he was a Salaawa.  
They were cryptids and little was known about them, after all.  
This problem would be solved in due time, when they arrived at the HQ and began to question him.  
Anyway, he clearly resented being a prisoner, even more because he believed he had done nothing wrong, which was debatable.  
Abe turned to look towards Ruddy, who had completely forgotten his wounds and was presently straining to glance outside from the windows in the upper part of the compartment.  
He glanced at Daisy, who was equally observing his antics with a look that showed clearly how much cute she thought Ruddy presently was.  
He had his cute moments when he was not trying to be menacing, Abe had to admit.  
And she was cute too.

Daisy giggled and glanced back at him, causing him to blush a deep shade of blue because of his thoughts.  
She scuttled next to him and whispered: "He'd be very disappointed if he didn't manage to see an airplane."  
Being so close to her sent shivers running along his spine, but he managed to act normal. "We could let him out and let him have a look." he replied.  
"Do you think it is possible?" she asked.  
"Hellboy told me they had let him out this morning at the campsite." he revealed.  
"Would you do it?" she whispered, admiration glimpsing in her seaweed-coloured eyes.  
"Of course." he answered, starightening up and feigning self-assuredness.  
He was not exactly comfortable with the thought of approaching the creature, as reasonable as he seemed to be, he still was a dangerous and vicious fighter.  
But Daisy's admiration and affection were worth some risks.  
He gave Hellboy a questioning glance and gestured towards Ruddy and the cage.  
Hellboy looked a question to him and Abe pointed out to the window.  
Hellboy shook his head and sighed, tapping his temple in a gesture that meant "you're crazy" but grumbled something like : "Just be careful."

Abe nodded and kneeled next to the cage, tapping on it lighly to call Ruddy's attention.  
The creature turned to him, puzzled.  
"Do you want to have a look at the planes?" Abe asked.  
"For sure, triton!" he exclaimed.  
"I'll get you out, but..." he began to say.  
"I know, I know, I have to behave. - Ruddy interrupted him impatiently, wagging his tail, which, incidentally didn't look as badly burnt as the day before – I give you my word. Now get me outta here."  
Abe warily unlocked the cage and opened the door, letting him out, and he stalked towards the window.  
He remained balanced on his hind legs, propping himself on the wall and looked out, eyes widening in surprise.

"It is a vehicle. - he sounded somewhat disappointed - It looks like a metallic bird."  
"How did you imagine it?" Daisy asked, daring to get near him.  
Abe positioned himself next to her, hand on the butt of his gun, just in case.  
Ruddy noticed his move and grinned. "Do not worry, triton, I'm not going to harm your _Margarita_." he mocked, stressing the word 'your'.  
He his face flushed and he felt like strangling the beast, but Daisy smiled and thanked him for the preoccupation, and his chest swelled with joy.  
He could have sworn he had seen Ruddy wink in complicity.

After the funny interlude with the triton and the disappointing look at the plane, the travel so far had not been the occasion of much excitement.  
They had boarded the plane with the whole truck, descending only after the gates of the plane were closed.  
The team had allowed him to remain out of the cage while the plane was readied for the flight and he explored its contents thoroughly, sniffing every single object he could not recognize.  
He also gave a good sniff at the truck, as the vehicle they had travelled so far was called.  
It smelled like something awful and chemical, not unlike _naphta_ or _bitumen_, absolutely terrible, which made him sneeze. The rest of the people on the plane laughed, thinking his annoyance was particularly comical.  
After this incident, he returned to the place where the others were sitting and lay on a comfortable heap of rugs, curled on himself.

Later, a man wearing a strange hat appeared from a metallic door.  
He greeted his captors and ga ve a cir cular glance at the area, spotting Ruddy.  
"Aha! This is the creature you were hunting for - he exclaimed – Why is it being left free in my plane?" his pleasant voice held a hint of worry.  
"It seems I earned this privilege." Ruddy said smugly.  
The man gasped and paled to an ashen colour.  
"It speaks!" he exclaimed, shocked, pointing out at Ruddy  
"Yeah, he speaks. In Latin too. - Hellboy confirmed, laughing – And he has a bad temper."  
Ruddy nodded, grinning.

The pilot, an army officer who had more than 500 hours of flight in his career and had seen a great deal of weird things, managed to quickly regain composure and professionality.  
"Well, it does not matter. - he declared with finality – It cannot... You cannot stay in the cabin of my plane without being fastened to something, creature." he said, trying to be polite to the weird, red, talking dog.  
The creature seemed curious.  
"Why?" he asked.  
"Safety issues. It is the law." the pilot explained.  
"Well... - the creature said, both annoyed and resigned – I'll get back to the cage, I guess there is no other choice."  
He slowly limped to a transparent cage and lay there, casting wistful looks to the plane windows.  
One of the agents locked the cage and fastened it to the plane floor by the means of thick straps.  
The pilot checked the straps by tugging hard at them.  
Statisfied with his inspection, he controlled wether the other passengers had fastened their seat belts also.  
Everything in the cabin was in order, the cargo was properly stowed and the plane was in perfect conditions.  
It was time to fly.

The noise the plane made when it moved was almost unbearable, but the acceleration of the take-off and ascension was the most exciting thing he had felt since arriving in this land.  
It was exhilarating.  
He howled in enjoyment, much to the annoyance of the others.  
The plane continued ascending for a while, reaching what he judged a considerable altitude, then it stabilized in a horizontal position and went on without much change.  
Thus started the boring part of the trip.

After some hours, Ruddy heard the plaesant voice of the man with the strange hat, but the man himself was nowhere to be seen.  
He turned around as much as he could in his cage, looking for him, without much success.  
Then the plane began descending.  
It was not as strong a sensation as the one he had felt in the previous ascension but he enjoyed every single moment of it.  
It got even better when the plane eventually landed, touching the ground with a leap and decelerating sharply.  
He barked in herartfelt joy.  
Not everybody was enjoying himself as he was, however, Rajeev for example was as white as a linen cloth by now and groaned in despair.

The plane stopped completely and he watched his captors unfasten the straps which had kept them secured to their seats and stretch themselves.  
Ash kneeled next to the cage and unstrapped it deftly.  
"Hey, Ruddy! I'm gonna open the door - he called, joyfully – D'ya think you can get on the truck on your own?"  
"Are you allowing me out again?" Ruddy asked, perplexed.  
The day was getting better and better.  
"Yeah! I'd rather not carry both you and the cage back to the truck. - he explained, laughing, while working on the lock – You're heavy, d'ya know?"  
Ruddy snorted and walked stillfly and slowly towards the vehicle.  
He thought about stretching, but it didn't strike him as a really good idea.  
The careful leap to the rear compartment of the truck proved painful but bearable.  
He curled quietly in a corner and watched the rest of the team embark.  
When everyone else was in, Ash activated the vehicle, wich produced its usual symphony of vibrations and noises, and left the interior of the plane.  
"Next stop home, my friends!" he exclaimed cheerfully.  
Ruddy felt a thrill of excitement course his veins: the place Ash called home was the very same wher his future and status would be decided.

* * *

**Did you enjoy this chapter? Was it horrible?  
Do you have any guess about _who_ Ruddy really is?  
Please review!**

* * *


	13. Welcome to the HQ

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either: he has a kind of life on his own.**

Sorry for the delay in the updating but real life sometimes gets on my way...

There is a minor violence warning for this chapter: if you feel squeamish, just leave the part in _Italics_, which refers to Ruddy's memories. It is nothing too bad anyway.

By the way: Merry Christmas and Happy new year to everybody.

* * *

  
Gaining the boss' confidence had been a harder task than he had expected, but Ruddy made it anyway.  
His plan had succeeded.  
He was not free yet, but he was not exactly a prisoner anymore, more like a guest or a hostage.

The only annoying thing was having to stay in the kennel for his first night at the HQ.  
However warm it might be, the other dogs, black and tan beasts looking like tamer versions of European wolves with ridiculous German human names, turned his stay into a real hell.  
Unlike the coyotes, they immediately recognized him as different and not belonging with them.  
Reginald, the alpha, an unbearable, pompous, pain-in-the-ass, readily attacked him, for dominance or to kick him out, who knows.  
His sidekicks, Gunnar and Rainer, were at his side, ready to lend him a paw if need be.  
The German dogs acted like they were though and vicious but they had never seen a real fight.  
The scrawny coyotes of his pack would have beaten the shit out of them.  
He discharged all his frustration upon Reginald-the-idiot, but the other males promptly attacked him.  
Ruddy felt confused: dominance fights were solved privately, the rest of the pack was not supposed to interfere.  
His confusion, however short, allowed the two sidekicks to pounce him and press him belly-up to the ground.  
It hurt.  
"Stupid dogs!" he yelled with his human voice.  
This startled the dogs, which let go of him, with a stupid expression plastered on their muzzles.  
Ruddy lost no time in retaliating, the pain shooting through his chest temporarily forgotten, wrapped up in a coat of rage.  
Soon enough the kennel was resonating with barks, growls and yelps, while the canine equivalent of a royal brawl took place.  
Ruddy was having real fun for the first time in days.

Too bad his fun was spoiled by BPRD agents with a strong stream of ice-cold water, which hit the crowd indiscriminately with the force of a warhammer.  
The kennel was suddenly filled with distressed yelping and whimpering.  
Ruddy got hit among the first, while trying to pounce Gunnar, and was sent flying towards the wall.  
He landed ungracefully, sputtering water and cursing under his breath.  
He had already been hit with a water stream before, but he did not care for repeating the experience.  
Last time he resolved the situation with a well aimed lightning, but he knew he had to refrain from acts of hostility towards the HQ personnel.  
Ruddy sighed, turned his back towards the source of the unnatural stream and lowered himself as much as possible to the ground, to offer a smaller target.  
Luckily, after long moments the dousing ceased and two agents entered the kennel wearing thick not-leather boots up to their knees.  
"What's happening in here?" one of the agents, a bald man with a goatee, yelled.  
Since no one else in the room could answer verbally, Ruddy felt like the question was specifically directed to him.  
As he felt slightly pissed, he managed to spray the man completely by means of shaking himself to get rid of the excess of water.  
"We had a disagreement about permanence rights, Reginald and me." he sneered.  
The now-drenched man cursed loudly, his clothes dripping water.

All around the room, the black-and-tan dogs looked with awe at the two, not quite getting how Ruddy could speak the human language.  
"I've told 'em you'd cause only trouble." the bald agent grumbled.  
Ruddy sniggered. "Trouble is my second name."  
The agent sighed.  
"Well, now you cannot remain here in the kennel." he stated, desolately.  
"It is not my fault that your dogs are so racist." Ruddy replied.  
It was strange indeed: the coyotes, which had to fight daily to survive, were ready to accept him as one of their own, but these dogs, well fed and comfortably housed, were not.  
His considerations on this interesting topic were interrupted by the bald agent again.  
"Come on, furball, - he said, resigned - I'll get you a place to stay."

After a round of permission-getting and much talking, the bald agent, named Tony Brizzi, backed by _Margarita_ and the triton, managed to get him a room in the agents' wing of the complex.  
On their way, the triton and _Margarita _made fun about the incident and commented that he must be feeling better, since he was already getting into fights again.  
Ruddy wished he could smile, because he really felt like it.  
The two were always friendly to him and yes, he was feeling quite better, but tired and wanted nothing better than collapsing somewhere to sleep.

The room Tony had hastily arranged for him was small and didn't have any windows, the furniture being just a pallet and a bowl of water, but it was fine.  
Ruddy walked to the pallet and collapsed on it, exhausted.  
The brawl in the kennel had left him a collection of shallow cuts and bruises, nothing to worry about but annoying nonetheless.  
He felt like sleeping for days on end.  
"Is it OK?" the bald agent asked, mockingly.  
"Bring me a beer and I'd call it perfect." he replied half-serious, lazily opening an eye.  
The astonished look on Tony's face was fantastic.  
He cursed in a language that sounded much like Latin and left, leaving the door open.  
Ruddy laughed quietly and settled more comfortably on the makeshift bed.  
He always liked a beer after battle, a strong, red, double-malt beer to calm him down and ease his rage.  
It was more than six months since he had last tasted anything alcoholic and he missed the feeling, but today what he wanted most was a good night of sleep.  
It had been a tiring day.

The headquarters also known as HQ, as the demon said, were a large set of square buildings made of dark stone and a light gray material which looked like stone but was not.  
Their entrance was blocked by an iron-wrought fence with a huge gateway.  
A very bored gatekeeper stood guard in a little lodge and waved hello to Ash as they passed by.  
"Did you get fun in Texas?" the gatekeeper asked, laughing.  
"Awfully!" Ash replied, entering the complex.  
The area was lighted by not-torches, which produced no smoke and illuminated the twilight with a yellowish light.  
The HQ gave Ruddy an overall impression of severity and righteousness.  
The buildings were surrounded by a wooded area, maybe a park.  
It was lightly raining and the trees were already bereft of any leaves, signaling that it was already autumn in those lands.  
A huge porticullis opened in the side of the building, allowing the truck inside.  
Ash stopped the vehicle and yawned.  
"We're back home at least!" he exclaimed.  
"Finally!" Hellboy said, unlocking the rear door and jumping down.  
He offered a hand to his girlfriend and helped her out.  
Everybody seemed tired and happy to be finally home.  
That was understandable.  
How could they call this place home, was much harder to figure out.  
Ruddy jumped down the truck and quickly scanned his surroundings.  
The trucks, big as they were, seemed nothing more than toys in the huge subterranean chamber.  
It was really huge, almost as big as some temples back home, but looked unfinished, its mighty walls completely blank, without as much as a single decoration.  
The ceiling also was completely white.  
The lack of color heightened his perception of how cold the place was:  
Ruddy was not accustomed to cold, having lived most his life in the middle of the desert, and felt uncomfortable.  
It was an unfriendly place at least, he thought, trying his best to control his shivering.  
He saw two agents getting the not-glass cage out of the truck, and relief flooded him at the thought of not having to be confined inside it anymore.  
His relief was short-lived however, as the two agents put it on a strange handcart with tiny wheels and opened it.  
"Well, Doggy, it is time to get in the cage again." the demon said, un-sympathetically.

The BPRD agents knew it wouldn't be nice for their prisoner to return inside the cage, but it had to be done.  
They could not afford leaving him free inside the building, lest he did something he should not or, more probably, their boss flipped out completely.  
But then there was always the possibility that the damned dog would put up a fight, for all the battered and tired he was, Hellboy thought.  
For a moment it looked like it was really going to happen.  
Ruddy straightened up imposingly and bared his fangs in an indignant snarl, but then he sighed and slumped.  
"I am still your prisoner, right. - the reddish creature said, gloomily, with a strained voice – And you have the right to your triumph, I guess."  
Hellboy looked confused at this last remark.  
He gave a quick questioning look at the know-it-alls of the group, but no one managed to give him an answer as the creature resumed talking.  
"It is not the first time I have to submit to the indignity of being paraded in chains. - he commented bitterly stalking towards the cage with all the dignity he could muster – Anyway, it doesn't make it easier in the least extent."

"But it is not as if we are going to boast of your submission. - Abe tried to explain, quite sorry for the misunderstanding. - It is just for safety, Ruddy, try to understand."  
"I know, I know. - Ruddy said, quite unsettled, shaking his head – I am sorry for being so difficult, but it feels like I am going to be displayed to your superiors and it brings about unpleasant memories."  
Abe was quite at loss about what to say, he just shook his head as Ruddy entered the cage and huddled in a corner.  
He winced as Ash closed the lock and lightly shivered.  
Daisy noticed it and an alarm shot trough her mind.  
He could be in shock or ill, anyway he had one or more broken ribs and had just traveled by plane.  
He could have an embolism.  
"Are you alright?" she asked in a worried motherly tone.  
The creature nodded absently. "It is just cold."  
Ash pushed the cart along the endless passageways of the BPRD headquarters but Ruddy didn't seem curious of his surroundings as he had been during the rest of the trip.  
His expression, as far as she could judge, was distant, as if he was lost in thought.

_  
He remembered the sun blinding him and, over all, he remembered being in terrible pain.  
He was presently chilled to the bone, but he recalled the stifling heat of the midday and the hardness of the wood he was kneeling upon.  
His arms and neck were locked by a heavy yoke, bound by chains to the wooden planks.  
The cart, pulled by two white oxen, paraded along the main street, between two wings of cheering crowd.  
They were commemorating: the war was over and the kingdom would be finally united under a legitimate king.  
Some profited of the occasion and insulted him, throwing pieces of rubbish and mud at him.  
He was in such pain that he didn't even notice.  
He closed his eyes and tried to drift away but he could not, because every jolt of the cart on the uneven road sent agonizing pain through his whole body.  
His wounds were re-opening and blood was slowly trickling along his legs.  
The cart finally stopped, in front of the throne.  
Baba and his hennchmen took hold of the chains and pulled him roughly down.  
He lifted his eyes and looked at the young dark-skinned man sitting on the throne, flanked by two beautiful, majestic women. _

_His eyes were still bandaged and he hoped they hurt like his own wounds did.  
Then the guards shoved him roughly, forcing him to kneel.  
He cried out in pain and heard the dark-skinned, blinded man commanding him to submit to his power.  
He remembered not being able to restrain himself and giving him a sarcastic reply, something along the lines of "I recall you liked being the one on bottom..."  
The crowd gasped in shock at his words and he felt an odd satisfaction as the man's face distorted with fury, then the man recomposed himself and gave a commanding gesture.  
One of the guards kicked him hard in the ribs, making him gasp for air.  
Another kick caught him on the side and soon he was being savagely beaten.  
He fell to the floor and curled upon himself to protect his wounds, hoping to pass out, wishing for it to stop, wishing to be able to defend himself and fight, hating to be so weak and helpless, then the beating ended.  
Everything hurt in his body.  
He caught his breath and painfully, agonizingly slow, got on his knees again.  
He raised his eyes again, ready to defy his enemy anew, but his beloved sister's gaze met his for a brief, endless moment.  
She silently pleaded him to stop fighting and suffering.  
Two big teardrops fell from her eyes, "I do not want to lose you too." she mouthed soundlessly.  
He lowered his gaze to the floor, and swallowed his own coming tears and the last remains of his pride.  
He could not disobey her.  
He lifted his head proudly once again and tried to straighten up.  
At least he would do it with all the dignity he could muster.  
"I submit to you as my rightful king." he said in a loud clear voice._

_It was over, finally._

Ruddy was pulled away from his memories by the sudden stop of the cart in front of a big metallic door.  
Ash fiddled with a strange apparatus stuck on the wall beside the door and it opened slowly but without anyone touching it.  
It was amazing, but still he didn't like the place.  
It was too blank, it looked unfinished, without any decoration on the walls.  
The place badly needed the caring attentions of a gang of painters.  
Ash turned the cart into a new but equally white corridor at the end of which stood another iron door.  
Ash did something equally mysterious with this one as he did with the previous one, but in this case the door did not open on his own again.

"What do you want, now?" asked an voice unknown voice coming from above and on his left.  
It did not belong to anyone in the group.  
He shook his head, remembering the strange trick the man in the weird hat had done on the plane, talking without being in the same room with them.  
"Ah, our boss is always so gentle..." Ash sighed, smiling.  
He approached the strange symbols on the wall and answered quite loudly.  
"We're back, boss! And there's someone who wants to talk with you!" he exclaimed gleefully.  
"Well, come in if you have to!" answered the gruffy voice of the man from the other side of the door.  
With a metallic noise and a flashing red light the door unlocked  
Ash grinned. "I can't wait to see his face when you talk to him, Rud." he whispered in a conspirative voice, shortening his recently acquired name.

Rajeev pushed the door open and they finally entered the boss' office.

* * *

**Sorry for the cliffhanger, ladies and gentlemen, but I could not finish the chapter properly and preferred to split the action in two separate blocks.  
Next chapter is coming soon, after New Year I hope.**

Tanks to everybody who read and reviewed this story so far (especially Hoodoo and MetalMyersJason): your appreciation and critics mean much to me.  



	14. The Director

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hellboy or any of the original BPRD characters. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either, he has a kind of life on his own.  
I don noty own anything referring to H P Lovecraft works, except the inspiration.  
**

Sorry for the terrible delay in the updates, ladies and gentlemen. University is swallowing increasing parts of my time and leaving me drained.  
I cannot promise that there would be no more such gaps in updating, since it is exams time, but I promise you that I am not over with this yet and that there is much more coming.

Thanks to Hoodoo, Armoured Soul and sesshy81 for their kind reviews and thanks to all that have read and appreciated this story so far.

The challenge's still up, anyways. You know the deal by now.

Enjoy!

* * *

  
As long as he lived, Ruddy would always remember with a smile his first meeting with the boss. Even in his sleep, his lips curled at the memory.

After the voice from the inside of the room allowed them in, the cold metallic doors started to open with a pneumatic sound.  
Ruddy pricked up his ears in recognition: a steam-powered machine, probably, like the ones projected by Hero of Alexandria.  
These automatic doors were impressive for their sheer size - he had to admit - wondering where the big boiler required to open such heavy doors would be hidden.  
He was betting it was underground, much to the dismay of the slaves – no, he mentally corrected himself, they were not called so in this country – well, much to the dismay of the labourers who had to build the fire to make it all work.  
He straightened himself, sitting majestically upright, and tried to act as if he was just fine with being carried about inside a not-glass cage.

The boss was seated on a big and seemingly comfortable leather chair, probably new, judging from the nice smell pervading the room.  
In front of him stood a remarkably big table, completely covered by sheets and books, on which rested various strange devices with buttons and little lights stuck on their surface, the function of which he could not begin to imagine.  
Humans had become really amazing since the last time he had seen them, he mused.  
Despite the myriad of questions he had in mind, ready to be asked, he tried to contain his curiosity: he had to favourably impress and convince the officer, and acting like a child would not be useful to his strategy.  
Even if the rest of the room was quite interesting, especially the strange devices, the boss was not so.

Since the man was the leader of such brave and valiant soldiers, he had expected him to be a soldier too, perhaps an old retired veteran or a general, and, well, silly as it seems, he had expected a more distinguished appearance, some decorations, medals, whatever, to tell him apart from his troops.  
The man behind the table, instead, did not keep up with his expectations: first of all he was a portly, balding man well over his fifties and had a dull look, he didn't look like a warrior at all. Secondarily, he wore the same black-on-white outfit, complete with a ridiculous and useless strip of dark cloth tied around his neck, exactly like the ones his agents wore.  
Maybe he was just unpretentious, he thought next, like Hanniba'al Barak, the brave Carthaginian general.  
The thought brought a smile to his muzzle, he had a feeling this man was nothing like a soldier.  
Maybe he was a nobleman or a bureaucrat, put in this place of power by the court.  
Yes, judging from what he had heard from the agents, that could be the case.  
Ruddy tried to concentrate and sense his aura, to assess whatever powers he possessed and was not surprised to conclude he had none.

However unremarkable, the boss looked angry, his initially pale countenance growing steadily more flushed with every step that brought the cage further into the room.  
The man's face had almost the same colour of a beetroot when he jumped up and started to yell.  
"What is this?" he asked, pointing his finger towards the transparent cage and its occupant.  
"The creature we found in Texas." Abe the triton replied, with his usual calm voice.  
"Why do you seem to think you have to bring to the HQ every single weird creature you catch around?" the man continued, passionately.  
Wanting to intervene, but not knowing if it would be prejudicial to his cause, Ruddy cast a circular glance at the agents, who were calm and impassive, seemingly waiting for the boss' temper to abate.  
He caught Ash's eye and the boy signaled him to wait with a discreet gesture of a hand, smiling wickedly.  
Ruddy acquiesced and turned back to the shouting man.  
"This is not a Monster Sanctuary!" the man admonished, raising a supposedly menacing finger to point at Hellboy.

The demon stared impassively at the smaller man, until he withdrew his finger and stopped yelling.  
"You'd get an infarction one of these days, boss." the demon said calmly, while the boss seated himself back on the leathery chair and wiped the sweat off his face with a piece of white cloth.  
"I hope you have a good reason to bring this beast here." he grumbled.  
Ash tapped discreetly on the lid of the cage, as if encouraging him to intervene, but Ruddy needed no encouragement as there were few things he hated more than being called a beast.

"I am no beast!" he burst out, quite loudly.  
The boss turned so fast that his neck must have creaked with the effort and stared at Ruddy in disbelief, mouth agape.  
"The dog speaks." he muttered seconds after.  
"Yes I speak, but I am not a dog." Ruddy confirmed, repressing a smile; sometimes he loved having this effect on people.  
"Boss, this is Ruddy, - Ash performed the due introductions with a wide smile on his youthful face – Ruddy, this is our boss, Director Thomas Manning."  
The boy was having supreme fun at the expenses of his own boss, which presently was utterly flabbergasted.  
"Pleased to meet such an honorable officer." Ruddy greeted formally and a little stiffly, but this caused a great bursts of hilarity in his companions.

Uncomprehending, he turned towards his companions, and gave them a quizzical look to which they did not respond, occupied as they were with laughing their asses off.  
The only serious people in the room were the German spirit and the boss himself, who wore a deeply annoyed expression.  
"Did I say something wrong?" Ruddy asked, to nobody in particular.  
"I think you tickled their sense of the absurd." the spirit replied dryly.  
"Ah, well..." he commented, thoughtfully.  
He felt a pang of pity for the director as it must be very hard when your subordinates do not respect you, but then, he mused, it must be hard working for a superior which is not worthy of one's respect and submission.  
As he simply hated submitting to most people, he could sympathize more easily with the agents.

"Thank you very much for putting me to shame in front of the prisoner." the director said, bitterly, when the laughter subsided enough for his words to be heard.  
"Sorry, boss." Hellboy grinned.  
Manning waved a hand in impatience and gave him a hard look.  
"Let's return to business, agent. - he said coldly – Would you explain me exactly why you brought this creature here, except for making fun of me?"  
"I thought the twins would love a pet." Hellboy replied, brass-faced as ever, eliciting an indignant growl and a shower of sparks from Ruddy.  
"Just kidding, doggy." the demon smirked: he really loved mocking him, but it could prove dangerous for his health, the red-furred salaawa mused.  
The demon ignored his hateful stare and turned back to his boss. "It is better that we tell you everything from the beginning. Sit down, because there's much to hear."  
"If you must..." Manning said, quite defeated.

The demon retold him the whole expedition, aided by his companions.  
Thus Ruddy finally understood how they had found him after he had so carefully concealed his tracks: the triton was a touch sensitive, how interesting.  
He had underestimated him, maybe because of his peaceful voice and calm behaviour.  
When it came to narrating their fight at the lonely hill, which the humans called Gallows Hill, Ruddy also chimed in, mainly to argue about the beginning of the fight.  
"I thought _Margarita_ had attacked me and I just acted accordingly with the situation." he said, wanting to make his point.  
Manning gave the cryptozoologist a black look.  
She blushed and tried to explain herself. "I was unarmed, director Manning, and was merely taking a photo. Unfortunately he misinterpreted the flash as a weapon."  
The director moved his stare to Ruddy.  
"I stand as accused. I thought it was a trick to dazzle me. - he acknowledged candidly – It has worked just fine in previous occasions."  
His thoughts drifted to the brass mirror-polished shield of the annoying blue-eyed brat and the way he shifted the thing to reflect sunlight in his eyes just before trying to gut him.  
Ruddy shook his head, ears flopping in an undignified manner, but he really had to erase that thought from his mind in order to remain calm throughout the questioning.

"Well, and then?" the director asked, quite bored.  
"And then he almost beat the crap out of us." Hellboy replied calmly, as if it was the most commonplace thing on heart.  
"You are kidding." the balding man said in disbelief, looking from the Hellboy to the cage and then back again.  
"Was this dog-thing so hard to defeat?" he asked, wide-eyed, afterwards.

"Well, let's see... – the demon explained, counting on his normal hand – He knocked unconscious both Rajeev and Ash, broke Scottie's arm, wounded me and Abe..." he made a pause, just to let his words sink in.  
"Did I mention that he shot lightings all over the place?" the demon asked, rhetorically, and the boss went so wide-eyed that Ruddy thought his eyeballs were going to fall from their sockets.  
"And that he would have killed professor Krauss, had he been corporeal?" he concluded, gesturing towards the shredded not-skin of the German.

Ruddy snorted and chimed in: "I was not aiming to kill, really. I figured that he was no human, though I was betting he was one of those creatures with their faces on their chests."  
He looked at the uncomprehending faces of his captors and felt compelled to explain "You know, the ones described also by Plinius, I cannot quite remember their name though..." he added, losing his surety as he talked, since no light of comprehension dawned on their faces.  
There was a moment of strained and embarrassed silence, before Abe slapped his forehead and exclaimed victoriously: "The Akefaloi!"  
"Yeah, that's it! The Headless Ones." Ruddy agreed, tail unconsciously wagging in satisfaction.  
He was managing to find common ground between himself and this people and this boded well for his endeavours.  
"I thought it had no head or neck to speak of, so it would only scare him, if I went for his throat... - he tried to explain, not sounding much convincing even to himself – As I have already told you, I was not aiming to kill."

"That's why you tried to fry me on the spot, right, doggy?" Hellboy argued, reasonably.  
The boss gave him a questioning look.  
"Oh, well... - Ruddy had the good grace to feel embarrassed – I thought you had poisoned me and that I was going to die... - he actually smiled and that human gesture looked unnatural on his muzzle – And for sure I was not going to Hell unavenged."  
His answer baffled Hellboy, he would have never allowed using poison on an enemy, was not honorable, for lack of a better term.  
He had been raised in a military base after all, and something of the military crap must have stuck on him.  
"I could have killed you on my own without the need to employ such a trick." he said, offended.  
"Oh,no... - Ruddy retorted, temper raising to match the demon's – You just drugged me up to the ears, it is so much honorable..."

"Oh, please, cut the ultimate- macho-warrior crap, you two. - Liz snapped, really annoyed – It is standard procedure when dealing with an unknown creature to try and stun it, to study it further here in the HQ."  
Ruddy was going to protest again about being called a creature and an "it", since it was clear that he was a male, but the pyromancer stopped him on his tracks with a gesture of her hand.  
"I know now that you are not a beast, but when we started the hunt we did not know about it."  
At this point _Margarita _stepped in, faithful to her self-imposed role of peace keeper.  
"I know that it is not nice to be drugged and caged, Ruddy, but had we not done it, we would have never had the occasion of talking, probably."  
"And you would have never known where was this place." Abe added.  
The two of them were in synch, it looked, already completing each other's sentences, he noted, amusingly.

"Yes, yes, all's well what ends well, I know the deal." Ruddy concluded, snorting.  
"You could have spared yourself much of the trouble if you had behaved like an intelligent being from the beginning, instead of charging us with no apparent reason." The German ectoplasm couldn't leave well enough alone and had to add a caustic remark, in his irritating, heavily accented voice.  
"No apparent reason?! - he bellowed, outraged, jumping to his feet, the ridge on his back was standing on edge again - You had been following me for days and were trying to sneak upon me in my sleep and I had no reason of judging this an hostile behaviour?! Are you joking?"

"You were expecting us, admit it, creature. - the German pressed on , calm unwavering – You were trying to get to us from the beginning."  
Ruddy stared at him in wonder. "Are you delirious, spirit?" he asked, others gave him eloquent stares, mutely asking more or less the same question.  
"I have a theory, Director, if you allow me to explain myself." the spirit continued.  
Having received a nod of consent from the increasingly baffled Director Manning, he went on.  
"This creature probably comes from Middle East, am I right, Doctor Marsh?" he asked.  
"Well, the saalawa's areal of distribution goes from Egypt to Pakistan, including the Central Asian plains and..."  
"Enough, enough. - he interrupted he explanation – Egypt, Pakistan, Central Asia. And he had not given us a plausible explanation for his presence on American soil. I wonder if he is more than we account for."  
A thrill of fear coursed Ruddy's spine, could the spirit have already busted his cover.  
Crap, he thought, it was not so hard after all, there were not so much people looking like him around.

"He could as well be a kind supernatural of Islamic terrorist." the spirit concluded, among amused snorts from his companions.  
"Oh, come on, professor, this is a little too paranoid and far-fetched." Liz protested.  
"I could be a what?!" Ruddy asked, suddenly relieved.  
His fears had been unfounded, his cover still held fast.

"An islamic terrorist, a mujaheddin, something like that. - Ash explained but Ruddy's confused expression did not change – Well, I guess you have no idea of what any of these words mean."  
"No, no I can guess what a terrorist is, something like a zealot, isn't it? A sectarian assassin. - Ruddy replied - Is the Islamic part that I cannot place. What is Islamic?"  
"Nevermind. So you are not here to blast some strategic installation of the government, like, well, uhmm... this place?" Hellboy asked, laughter blinking in his yellow eyes.  
"No, Hell, why would I? - Ruddy protested – I was content with roaming with the pack, until you came hunting for me."

"And by the way, - he added, just to make it clear – as I first saw you three: a demon, a triton-like creature and a weird thing with a vase on top, coming after me, I thought you were followers of one the Great Demons."  
This was the agents' turn to look at him in disbelief.  
"Followers of what?" Hellboy said, cautiously, as if fearing the answer.  
"The Great Demons - Ruddy explained slowly, as if to a child – You know, the Great Old Ones, the Ogru Jahad, the creatures of the Void, the slimy bastards who want to eat the world. Call them what you will, the name won't change the substance."

"What do you know about them?" the demon asked, aggressively, his stone hand contracting into a fist.  
"Enough, I guess, - Ruddy answered haughtily, straightening up and giving him a cold stare (the demon couldn't be suspecting about him, could he?) – since I was born and raised to hunt and fight them."  
Hellboy and the rest of the team looked at him as if he saw him for the first time, then the demon erupted in a roaring laughter, in which he was promptly joined by the rest of the team, well, except the director, who looked quite resigned instead, as if he was going to have to do something he wished he did not, and, obviously, the spirit.

"What's so funny?" Ruddy asked, angrily.  
"Nothing. - the demon smiled – I think you just got the job you wanted, doggy."  
Ruddy stared at him with a very stupid look of incomprehension on his muzzle.

"Welcome to the team, buddy!" Ash exclaimed, slamming the cage open.

* * *

  
Did you like / hate/ enjoy it.  
have you any guess for the challenge?

Please make yourselves heard. (well, read.)

I need reviewes, even the bad ones, to improve.


	15. First Working Day

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any original BPRD character. I just own the plot and the OCs. I do not think I own Ruddy either, he has a kind of life on his own.  
**

**Sorry for the delay in updating, my dear ladies and gentlemen**, **but I had to prepare 4 exams in one month only, so I had no time to write whatsoever.  
I hope that the length of the chapter will somehow make good for your wait.  
Thank you very much for your kind reviews, the faves and the alerts, but above all for the attention.**

The story has already reached the 1.500+ mark, all because of you.  
I am very, very happy and proud about it.

**No warnings for this chapter: it is a kind of filler, really, just to have a little fun and introduce the second premium OC: Dr. Eliza Hertz**.  
**Do not worry though, there is more coming shortly (I hope), and the action will speed up in the next chapters.**

**Challenge's still up. You know the deal. (Who Ruddy really is?)  
**

**What more to say?  
Just Enjoy!**

* * *

  
His first working day at the BPRD started abruptly.  
Ruddy was still sleeping, deeply entrenched in a dream: he was in a strange bazaar, looking for a goldsmith.  
In the dream he had already visited the place before and knew exactly where the jeweler's stall was, at the far end of the first row of stalls, at the very corner of the bazaar, and went directly there, wanting to finish his business there and quit the place as soon as he could.  
He did not care for the crowds which roamed excitedly all over the place, inspecting the wares and talking in a high voice.  
No one payed much attention to him, but he was starting to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people around him.  
He hastened his progress and reached the end of the row of stalls, but the goldsmith was not there, a blacksmith with his anvil and a forge occupied the place where his stall was supposed to be.  
Confused, gave a look to his surroundings, thinking that maybe he had taken a wrong turn and had ended at the other side of the market, which was quite possible.  
A big sycamore tree caught his attention: his branches, full of tender spring leaves, threw a pleasant shade upon the blacksmith and his forge, and he was absolutely sure that, not long before, its shade had been bestowed upon the brilliant trinkets wrought by the hands of the goldsmith he was looking for.  
A deep uneasiness settled upon him as he retraced his steps wearily.  
Along the way he noticed a lot of strange people, including a black-skinned woman with cloven feet and a merchant selling toy bows to a group of almost-naked, fair-haired Celts, which promptly proceeded to test them by firing some ridiculously diminutive arrows against a nearby target.  
He checked the other corners of the bazaar, finding nothing.  
With growing apprehension, he turned towards the nearest merchant to ask him where he could find the goldsmith, but before he managed to utter a single word, someone woke him by banging the door against the wall very loudly.

Despite feeling a little guilty for making so much noise, Ash could not repress a laughter upon entering in Ruddy's room.  
The dog-thing had evidently just woken up, and was completely tangled in the blanket, just a hind leg and his weird ears jutting out from the heap of fabric.  
Letting out a steady stream of curses in the strange language he used when he was particularly upset, Ruddy struggled frantically to disentangle himself, to no avail.  
"Need a hand?" the young agent asked, laughter sparkling in his eyes.  
The red creature suspended his efforts and mumbled something.  
Something sarcastic probably, Ash mused.  
He had a feeling that insisting and arguing would have no positive effect whatsoever, so he just leaned against the wall and waited, amusing himself with the stubborn pride of the BPRD newest employee.  
After a couple of minutes the heap of fabric stopped wriggling and from his depths came a resigned voice.  
"I think I need your help, after all." Ruddy said, sounding quite dejected.  
Ash sighed and knelt next to him, trying to determine which were the ends of the tangle.  
"Stay still, would you?" he asked, starting to work upon the fabric.  
"I will, just get me out of here." Ruddy replied.  
Ash managed to uncover his muzzle, revealing a very ruffled and annoyed salaawa.  
The irritated expression he wore was almost comical, so Ash had to concentrate hard on disentangling one of his paws to refrain from laughing out loud, which would have been very stupid, since he did not want to upset him further and earn himself another shock, at closer range this time.  
"Here we go, doggy." he said, having finally freed the creature.  
"I am very grateful for your help, Ash. – Ruddy grudgingly acknowledged – But if you ever tell anybody about this incident, I will make you pay."  
"Easy there, doggy. I ain't telling no one." Ash reassured him: hurting his pride could bring no advantage to him.

Maybe in a while, when he finally accustomed to the BPRD, Ash could start to make fun about Ruddy as he did of anyone else, including the boss, but he had to give him time to adjust.  
"Wanna have breakfast?" he inquired to the creature, who was presently busy with smoothing out his fur, which was standing on edge for having been rubbed with the synthetic blanket.  
Small sparks cracked along his spine, in a very disquieting way.  
Ruddy laughed, which in itself was disquieting as dogs were not supposed to laugh, and all of a sudden his fur came down again.  
"It looks like the struggle with the blanket has recharged me a little. Great! - he announced, very smug and satisfied - I believe I am quite hungry, by the way. Breakfast looks like a good idea to me."  
Ash smiled and pushed himself away from the wall.  
"Follow me, then lazy dog. It is already late." he chided.  
Ruddy snorted and followed suit, at a leisurely pace and limping slightly.  
Still, Ash thought, walking around already was no small feat, even for a dog-from-hell as Ruddy was, after the beating he had taken.  
The two of them would wreak merry havoc together at the BPRD if things went his way, and they would, the agent was sure about it.  
At least the strange dog seemed to bear his company much better than anyone else's presence.  
Still fantasizing about future mischief and devising plans for convincing Ruddy to cooperate with him, Ash opened the double doors that led to the canteen.  
"This is the place where the agents eat, my friend. - he explained cheerfully, and as Ruddy showed no reaction to the phrasing, he went on with more confidence – I am not sure if this is the proper place for you, but since you have already made sure you are unwelcome in the kennel..."

The people of BPRD had no taste whatsoever in decorating: every room was white and metallic, without a single decoration.  
So awfully plain.  
The refectory was a huge, white room with silvery metallic tables scattered all around, where the agents consumed their meals, chatting cheerfully.  
What could be so cheerful in a room with no windows, lighted by those weird not-torches stuck to the walls and ceiling?  
He had not seen a window anywhere since he had arrived and was already starting to grow claustrophobic...  
_No_. - he scolded himself - _Do not think about that right now. Everything 's all right. There is plenty of space, see?_

Ruddy steeled his resolved and entered the refectory, but as soon as he stepped foot inside, his mouth began to water and his stomach audibly rumbled at the delicious smell of food that hovered all over the big bleak room.  
On the right side there was a big metal counter laden with all sorts of food.  
It had been a long time since he had seen so much food together in the same place, and he had missed the sight.  
He loved hunting, it was thrilling and made him feel good and powerful, but he knew how to appreciate commodities when they were available, and he was very grateful for them right now.  
Hunting would be off-limits for a while: though he acted like he was perfectly fine, he was still sore, nay, hurt from his recent fights.

He sniffed the air, inhaling deeply, but not so deeply as he would have, had he not recently broken some ribs.  
There were so many interesting scents in the room.  
Apart from the various scents of the human agents and the distinctive odor of the demon, he caught whiffs of every sort of food: fruit, milk, something made with eggs which smelled delicious, something very similar to curd cheese, fresh bread – ah, he so ached for a piece of bread, but he couldn't eat it in this form, well, not without his stomach protesting – and, best of all, some different kinds of cooked meat.  
Ruddy licked his lips in anticipation.

"Hungry, doggy?" the cheeky and cheerful agent asked with a grin.  
"You cannot begin to imagine how much." he responded in all honesty.  
"Let's go to the table then, and I'd get you something to eat." Ash proposed, gesturing towards the place where Hellboy and some other agents were already seated.  
"Thanks, Ash, but I think I can manage it on my own." Ruddy retorted, a little indignant .  
He might not be fit for a wild run in the plains yet, but he was not in so bad a shape as to require assistance in snatching some food from a table.  
Ash chuckled, seemingly amused by his indignation. "I know, Rud, but the guy at the counter might take it badly if a dog ever approached the food. - he commented with his trademark grin - He'd surely get wicked pissed. He might even chase after you with a broom."  
This last image proved to be too much for him to bear, and he erupted in another hearty laugh.  
"I am not a dog. – Ruddy reaffirmed angrily, with a hint of growl. – And if the man behind the counter ever tried to hit me with a broom, I'd zap him."  
"That's precisely why I am going to get your food, my hot-tempered friend." Ash's voice was suddenly serious and Ruddy knew that the boy was right and that he was acting stupidly, as usual.  
He could not screw his position for pride, not when he was trapped in this form, in which he could not use his powers to their full extent, and surrounded by potentially hostile people.  
Even if they were acting friendly, they were still wary about him, there was no doubting about that, and would come down on him like flies on honey if he attempted any act of hostility.  
Hanging his head down, he acquiesced and headed towards the table, leaving the task of foraging to the youth.

The red-skinned, annoying demon was already seated at the table, apparently busy with eating an egg-thing with a reddish sweet-smelling relish.  
Ruddy tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible, waiting for the inevitable irritating remark: would he jape about his tardiness or about the kennel incident?  
However the demon barely acknowledged his presence with a curt nod and a grumble, then returned his attention to his plate.  
He looked very tired, Ruddy noticed, his eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, circled by dark shades, and he gave the overall impression of having not managed to sleep well, or to sleep at all, during the night.  
Ruddy was very curious: the demon did not look so tired in the previous days, even if he had to sleep in barracks.  
And where was the fiery woman?  
As far as he could tell, the pyromancer always sat next to her demonic companion.  
It was strange and it needed further investigation, Ruddy thought.  
They could have quarreled, it was a plausible explanation for the sleepless night and depressed behavior of the demon.  
Ruddy himself could remember the epic fights that plagued his short and ill-fated marriage: they lasted for hours and left him a nasty headache afterwards, not to speak of the humiliation for being the only one among his acquaintances whose relationship was a complete failure.

"Has she left you?" Ruddy asked abruptly, following his train of thought and throwing a quick glance towards the apathetic demon.  
His words seemed to have some effect on the man, as he turned sharply towards him, giving him a confused look and asking "What? Who?"  
Ruddy sighed. "Your flamethrower of a girlfriend, who else? - he explained – Has she left you?"  
The demon gave him a are-you-drunk-or-mad stare.  
"What has come into your mind, dog? Why should she do something like that?"  
"First of all, I am not a dog. - Ruddy retorted, irritated, he so hated being mistaken for a dog. – Second, well, demon, did you know that you stink of sulfur? That would be reason enough for me..." He knew he was being a total jerk now, but he could not help prodding at his newfound colleague's emotional wounds.  
Hellboy gave him a look that could curdle milk effortlessly, but he was not in the least discouraged and went on with his train of thoughts.  
"You are sitting here so silent, and it is clear that you have not slept a bit last night. - he explained smugly – I speak from personal experience, these are clear symptoms of a nightly conjugal fight."  
"Oh. - Hellboy said, comprehension dawning on his sleepy face – So long-eared critters also have conjugal fights? So funny." he chuckled.  
"No doubt you had your share, since you can't live without annoying someone, doggy. - he continued, grinning wide – Thanks for your interest, but my marriage is faring well so far. It was just the twins crying all night."

Ruddy gave him a questioning look, trying to change subject, as he had made a fool of himself, as usual.  
"You and Flamethrower have children?"  
"Yeah, two girls, nine months old. - Hellboy said, smiling affectionately – Between the growing teeth and the colics, we have a hard time sleeping at night."  
"Not just you. - a quite disgruntled female agent seated at their table chimed in – The whole wing have problems sleeping lately. What they lack in vocabulary, they compensate with strong lungs."  
"Yeah, very expressive." another black-and-white garbed colleague added.  
"They must be a real fright..." Ruddy commented, somewhat tenderly.  
Since he had no children of his own, he did not know what the first years were like, even if his girlfriends who had children had told him several times that it was the worst period.  
He always wondered how his own mother had managed with four kids together.  
Hellboy swallowed another spoonful of eggs with relish and nodded. "Indeed."  
"And please, stop calling Liz a flamethrower." he added, with a hint of playful menace.  
"If you stop calling me dog." Ruddy responded, unfazed.

"You can't stop arguing, can you?" Ash chimed in, with his typical grin plastered on his face and a tray in his hands.  
The agent seated himself next to Hellboy and directly in front of the woman, greeting her with a particularly wide grin and a "_Bonjour, cherie..." _full of mischief, to which she did not respond except from snorting and rolling her eyes in annoyance.  
Ash did not seem to care however, he just shrugged and put one of the plates from the tray on the floor in front of Ruddy, together with a bowl full of water.  
"That's for you, Rud. Hope you like it." he said, before turning towards his plate and starting to eat with appetite and satisfaction.  
Ruddy sniffed at the food with suspicion and curiosity: there were some sausages, stripes of cooked pork and a slice of very pink meat.  
"What is this?" he asked Ash, nosing suspiciously at the offending thing.  
Ash turned on his seat and cast a cursory glance at him. "It is ham, very tasty." he answered, with his mouth full.  
The boy's answer did not clear his doubts, but Ruddy decided that he was too hungry to care, and he did not want to appear ungrateful or distrustful towards the agents.  
He promptly began munching away at the food.  
It was very good indeed, he thought, wagging his tail happily.

The food Ash had brought proved to be too little for his long overdue hunger.  
"Hey, Ash, could you bring me some more?" he asked, unconsciously giving him puppy eyes.  
"Sure, Rud. You liked it, didn't you?" the agent said, smiling good-naturedly.  
"Yes, I did very much. Could you bring me some of the curd-cheese-like thing too? It smells so good." the creature asked, hoping it did not sound childish.  
"You mean yogurt, right? No problem." Ash said, grabbing the plate and heading again for the counter.  
"I must have imagined that you were the bottomless-pit kind of guy." Hellboy commented, setting fire to the tip of a smelly stick he had in his mouth.  
It was rich, since the demon had eaten a generous amount of food himself.  
"The pot calling the kettle black, huh?" Ruddy retorted ungraciously.  
The stick-thing finally caught fire and began in earnest to emit whiffs of smelly smoke, which floated lazily in the still air.  
Ruddy began almost immediately to sneeze, his nose itching and tingling.  
"This is completely awful!" he exclaimed, outraged.  
"Come on, doggy it is just a cigar." the demon complained.

"Mister Bruttenholm!" exclaimed a piercing woman voice, very irritated from the sound of it.  
"Oh crap..." Hellboy commented, extinguishing the smoke-stick in his plate and trying, ineffectively, to make himself inconspicuous.  
"Busted!" one of the agents at the table whispered, before making a quick retreat towards a door with a little stylized man painted on.  
A young woman was coming towards them with fast strides and a militant gleam in her eyes.  
She stopped right in front of Hellboy and gave him a hard stare, arms akimbo.  
"How many times have I told you that you should not smoke inside the BPRD? - she asked, seemingly having already lost her patience – Now, you can be not quite human and therefore immune to the deleterious effects of smoking, which is still in question anyway, but your colleagues are not."  
Hellboy opened his mouth as if he wanted to interrupt but she prevented him, going on with her lecture.  
"I have already told you that smoke provokes cancer, emphysema and atherosclerosis and contributes to causing hearth failure and infarction as well as impotence. – the woman went on mercilessly, quelling with a commanding gesture of her hand her victim's attempts to talk - You do not want to listen to me? Very well, you can go on and undertake the risk, but at least you have to show respect for your colleagues."

"You are poisoning them, did you know it?" she inquired, waving a menacing finger right under the flabbergasted demon's nose.  
Hellboy pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, as if to relieve an impending headache.  
The rest of the people in the room were quietly abandoning the scene, taking advantage of her exclusive focus on her target.  
"If you really wish to endanger your health, at least do it outside of the building, where you will not harm anyone else, including your daughters." she concluded, having probably exhausted her breath.  
Ruddy was astonished by the woman's nerve.  
She was a wee little thing, probably reaching no more than the demon's shoulder, and looked nothing like a warrior, her lean body more like that of a dancer than anything else, still she faced him with authority and severity.  
The look on the demon's face as he tried to stammer an excuse or an explanation in the face of such a verbal barrage was priceless, and Ruddy could not help but laugh out loud.

_Very bad move._ The red salaawa thought to himself only moments later, when the woman, face still flushed and eyes gleaming from the argument, turned to face him.  
She eyed him with curiosity. "I assume you are the new member of the team, right?"  
"Ruddy, at your service." he introduced himself as gallantly as he could muster, wagging his tail in greeting.  
"You should not be here, do you know? It is not very hygienic." she stated matter-of-factly, without hostility.  
"I was just having breakfast." he shrugged, regretting it as a stab of pain made him gasp.

The situation somewhat more calm, Ash decided to make his way back to the table.  
"Here we go, my friend." he said cheerfully, setting on the floor some more food and a bowl of yogurt.  
Ruddy readily tore at the food, leaving the yogurt for later.  
Never lifting his eyes from the plate, he heard the woman arguing with the agent.  
"You guys are a desperate case! All of you! - she whispered, belligerently, clearly not wanting him to listen, but unfortunately he had a very good hearing – Left to your own devices you'd eat only junk food. What has come into your mind, to give the creature fried bacon? It is too fatty for him."  
"There was no more else to have, Elie, and he seems to like it well enough." Ash retorted, calmly.  
"Indeed I do, it tastes very good." Ruddy chimed in.

The woman dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand. "Tomorrow I will have something more adequate prepared for you."  
"Hope it is not as insipid as the stuff she has made me eat for the last six months, doggy." Hellboy lamented.  
"It is not my fault if you cholesterol level was too high, Mr. Bruttenholm." she chided him.  
"They can't help arguing, can they?" Ruddy laughed.  
"Almost as much as you and him never stop bickering, Rud." Ash conceded.  
"By the way, who is this woman?" the creature asked.  
"Let me introduce Doctor Eliza Hertz, resident health-counselor and pest." he said in a soft voice.

"I heard you, agent Ash Melville!" she protested, but his jovial smile mollified her.  
"I am sorry, Elie. I was just joking." he apologized.  
However, she seemed a little disheartened. "I know, - she said, sighing – most of the people here think I am too bossy or a total hag, but that's only because I care about you, all of you. Hell, you risk your life on a daily basis, I only wish to keep you as healthy and happy as possible. You are like a family to me now... - she was getting caught in the moment, her speech becoming very passionate. – Oh, sorry, I did it again. I did not mean to overwhelm you with words." her cheeks flushed pink, and it was very becoming on her.  
"Worry not, Elie. We love you too." Ash said, with an affectionate smile.

Dr. Hertz waved away his words with a smile and promptly changed subject, to relieve the oppressing atmosphere the discussions had caused.  
"So, Ruddy, what is your impression of the BPRD so far?" she asked conversationally.  
"It is too white and impersonal, - he said, keeping his comments neutral - but so far so good."  
He was still alive and free, that was the best thing, he thought, but he kept it for himself.  
"Did they show you around already? There are some fancy places here, for example the library." she said.  
"We're going to give him a tour today. " Hellboy chimed in.  
"Would you want me to give him a bath, before?" Eliza Hertz asked, pointing her thumb at Ruddy.  
Before anyone else had time to answer, Ruddy reacted.  
"No, thank you very much." he said, trying to keep his voice calm and his words polite, even if he felt very, very embarrassed.  
As it was months since he had been touched by a woman, the whole bathe-thing could lead to very disturbing situations, considering that the Doctor was not un-attractive.  
"I feel pretty clean, anyway. - he added as an excuse, quite weak, he had to admit – After all I was washed with a thing called hose just yesterday, in the kennel."  
"If you say so... It does not seem very hygienic to me, but I do not want to force you." the woman said, shrugging.  
Ruddy sighed, tanking her silently again.

"OK, guys. It's already late. - Hellboy commented, stretching himself lazily – Let's go, shall we?"  
He was standing next to the doctor and Ruddy found out that his early guess was pretty accurate, she barely reached his shoulder and indeed looked very petite next to him.  
"By all means, I cannot wait to get accustomed to this place." the creature said, glad for the diversion from his embarrassing thoughts.  
"So, move your skinny ass, doggy, we're going." the demon said, heading towards a set of metallic doors with long heavy strides.  
Ruddy followed suit, waving his tail lazily in the air.  
Behind him, Ash brought up the rear and saluted the doctor warmly.  
Surely, Ruddy thought, he was not the only one to find the petite woman pretty.  
He followed Hellboy into another bleak corridor,absolutely identical to every other corridor he had seen in the building so far.  
If the rest of his stay at the BPRD followed the pattern of these first few hours, it would be a hell of a stay.

* * *

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**


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